


Operation: Expose Jaemin Na

by eons



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, M/M, and china line as warlock frat bros, background markno, huang renjun as done with your shit, lee jeno as the voice of reason, microscopic hyuckhei for 0.2 seconds, na jaemin as confident gay no. 2, starring lee donghyuck as confident gay no. 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21727384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eons/pseuds/eons
Summary: but then, donghyuck blinks and the moment is gone. there is no longer glitter dotting every inch of jaemin’s skin. he still glows, but not exactly like the stars that fill up the dark canvas of the sky – now, he's just a blonde-haired boy under the flickering fluorescent lights of a streetlamp and donghyuck wonders if he’d had imagined the whole thing in his head.jaemin gives him a funny sort of look. “what? do i have anything on my face?”“no, you just look kind of sickly under the street lights,” donghyuck lies, straight through his teeth. “i was worried all the caffeine was finally getting to you.”later, when donghyuck is finally on his way back to his apartment, he wastes no time getting out his phone, opening up the notes app and typing in furiously:jaemin is a VAMPIRE???alt; in between spell books, crazy housemates and late night coffee escapades, donghyuck and jaemin fall in love.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 24
Kudos: 312





	Operation: Expose Jaemin Na

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunlacie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlacie/gifts).



> good day nahyuck nation, this is my contribution to the six of us in this community lmao
> 
> also this fic is dedicated to the president of nahyuck nation miss lacie,, thank u for ur fanart queen 
> 
> this fic was deadass supposed to be 7k long but i think i got carried away ok enough rambling bye enjoy this 21k monster

"three table spoons of blood of a virgin, one tea spoon of the tears of your enemies – what kind of ingredients are these?" donghyuck says, brows furrowed as he reads aloud from what he expected to be a typical cook book. 

jeno only hums at donghyuck, clearly not paying attention to the other. "jen, look at this!" donghyuck urges, shoving the book to the clearly less amused male, who only briefly glances at the pages.

"it's probably a joke book," jeno tells him, more invested in his revision notes than whatever antic donghyuck was getting himself into. 

"a joke book in a public library?" at this point, jeno probably looks as if he would do anything to get his rather annoying best friend to shut up so he answers, "i don't know, hyuck. if they have shouju manga here, i'm pretty sure some joke book doesn't seem like too much of a stretch." 

donghyuck seems rather satisfied with that answer as he studies the odd book even further. majority of the pages show recipes for an assortment of different potions with a variety of different ingredients. toad's tongue, virgin blood and the feather of a raven seem to be the most common ones, donghyuck notes. 

"do you think these are real, jen?" donghyuck asks, flipping through the pages.

"who knows, hyuck," jeno mutters back, and donghyuck dismisses him. clearly jeno isn't going to listen to him, so donghyuck supposes he should ask someone else. 

"hey, jen, i'm going to look for the librarian. be back soon!" at that, jeno barely looks up, instead mumbling, "that's nice, hyuck." 

donghyuck climbs down the stairs to the bottom floor of the library where he would usually see a librarian. he scans the room and sees mostly college students engrossed in their own study materials but fortunately, he manages to spot someone who's probably a voluntary librarian. 

he seems to be arranging some books as donghyuck approaches him, and as he gets nearer, donghyuck notes two things. first, he's seen this guy around campus before – well, with his peach hair, how could anyone forget? second, he's not arranging the books, more like searching frantically through said books for something. 

it's a little ironic for a librarian to not know where a book is, donghyuck supposes and then questions the entire prospect of going to this specific librarian. perhaps, much like donghyuck on a daily basis, peach hair guy doesn't exactly know what he's doing. 

against his better judgement, donghyuck gives him the benefit of doubt and presumes that even if peach hair guy isn't a particularly _good_ librarian, he's still more helpful than nothing. 

"er, can you help me with something?" donghyuck tries, and at first, peach hair guy jerks behind in surprise before realising that it's just donghyuck. donghyuck shoots him a sheepish smile and peach hair guy fixes his composure. or tries to, at least. 

"ah – yes, sure." 

"right, so i found this book," donghyuck begins, showing the other the witch book before he gets cut off before he can finish his sentence. 

"where did you find this?" donghyuck flicks his gaze over at peach hair guy in shock because he just semi-shouted at the library; a _librarian_ almost shouted in the _library_. donghyuck didn't think that was even a thing; it _had_ to break like at least seven librarian laws. 

"at the library..?" donghyuck says unhelpfully at which peach hair guy sighs. 

"actually, you know what? thanks. i've been looking for it all over-" 

" _this?_ " donghyuck asks, pointing to the odd book, incredulous. 

"yeah, man. i just happen to be very particular about my witch books." peach hair guy says it in a deadpan and donghyuck can't tell whether if he's being sarcastic or not.

"i'm kidding," he adds upon seeing donghyuck's confused expression, offering him a surprisingly dazzling smile, showing off his pearly whites, to which donghyuck nods lightly. he feels a little dazed, but ignores it for the more pressing issue at hand. 

“so, can i have the book back?” peach hair guy asks, eyes still trained on the book. perhaps it’s just him, but donghyuck doesn’t understand why peach hair guy out of all people would be so particular about their joke books, but as much as he wants to, he doesn’t press on any further. 

“sure,” donghyuck replies handing the book over to peach hair guy who takes it too eagerly for it to be not suspicious. 

"how does a joke book get into a public library, anyway?' donghyuck finds himself asking, despite telling himself that he won't press on to the latter any further. peach hair guy sighs as if it's a long a long story and donghyuck's not going to lie, but he kind of wants to hear said long story. 

peach hair guy opens his mouth to speak but he's interrupted by another person who comes him to the duo rather panicked, saying, "hyung! did you find kun ge’s potions book? he's looking for it and he thinks that i have it!" 

peach hair guy rolls his head at this kid who looks like he's a college freshman and says in a deadpan, "you _do_ have it, you idiot." at the younger's confused expression he hands the supposed joke book into the freshman's hand who looks at it as if it was god's gift to man. either they're all really desperate comedians or part of some occult of bad witch recipes. donghyuck doesn't know which one is worse. 

“thank you, hyung! i swear, kun ge looked like he was going to kill me! you know how he is with his potions,” the freshmen says rather pointedly. 

“relax, lele. kun is unfairly soft for you, i don’t think i’ve ever seen him ever actually try to hex you when you use your experimental spells on him.” 

donghyuck stares at the interaction, still dumbfounded. potions? spells? _why must all the cute ones be crazy_ , donghyuck thinks sadly. donghyuck presumes that either both peach hair guy and the freshmen are a little delusional, or just hasn’t gotten enough sleep in the last seventy-two hours. donghyuck, for one, can say that he’s tried out the last one for himself and let’s just say, it wasn’t a pretty experience. 

“are you guys okay?” donghyuck finds himself asking, mildly concerned. 

the freshman and peach hair guy turn to donghyuck, as if they suddenly remembered that he was present as well. if donghyuck weren’t so confused, he’d be offended. 

“wait, did you overhear what we were saying?” the freshman asks, eyes widening. donghyuck shoots him a pointed look.

“considering the fact that i was literally here the entire time, i’d say yes?” donghyuck hears peach hair guy sigh at that. 

“we’re not crazy,” the freshman clarifies. 

“that’s something a crazy person would say,” donghyuck counters, while peach hair guy sighs again. 

“look,” peach hair guy tries reasoning, “out of context, we both may seem a little _abnormal_ , but we’re actually perfectly sane.” 

“absolutely,” the freshman echoes after. 

“ _right_ ,” donghyuck drawls out, eyes still squinting in suspicion. these people, regardless of how attractive they are, are completely bonkers and donghyuck doesn’t plan on staying for any longer, finding any reason to excuse himself, “actually, i think my friend i calling me, so, uh – bye, have fun with your comedy club.” 

and without even waiting for their responses, donghyuck dashes off, proceeding to drag a nonplussed and unamused jeno from the library, all while mumbling out, _it’s a lot more peaceful to study in the apartment, anyway._

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

donghyuck doesn’t come across peach hair guy after that one interaction and at this point, he’s convinced himself that the entire exchange was probably some weird fever dream that was the result of staring at revision notes for too long. 

it’s a shame, though, donghyuck thinks, because if his interaction with peach hair guy wasn’t so weird, donghyuck would have totally asked him out with his rather on par flirting skills. but alas, what has happened, has happened and donghyuck moves on with his life, for the most part perfectly normal with no mentions of anything particularly _magical._

donghyuck would say that he doesn’t keep an eye out for any peach haired people on campus, but he doesn’t really believe himself, either. jeno, for one, doesn’t believe donghyuck when he tells the other about the encounter, instead telling donghyuck that he should probably get some more sleep. 

and that’s exactly what donghyuck would have done this afternoon, if it weren’t for the fact that the very lee jeno is the one who’s forcing donghyuck to go and meet him at one of the coffeeshops not too far from campus. 

honestly, donghyuck doesn’t even _like_ that coffeeshop (the drinks are way too expensive and his barely existent trust fund won’t allow it), but if jeno is anything, he’s relentless. donghyuck is pretty sure if that he doesn’t show up, he’ll probably be kicked out of the apartment for a week and have no choice but to sleep on mark’s couch. 

besides, a pissed-off jeno is something donghyuck does not want to be dealing with as of now. or ever. 

walking into the coffeeshop, donghyuck scans the tables, looking for jeno. in retrospect, it shouldn’t be that difficult to find his best friend, considering how the latter has freshly-dyed silver hair that’s almost impossible to miss. (it had been the result of a dare, with donghyuck disappointed to discover that somehow lee jeno had the capability to pull off _silver hair._ but then again, it’s lee jeno – donghyuck decides it makes perfect sense) 

“hyuck!” jeno calls out and donghyuck turns his attention to one of the booths in the corner, where jeno is waiting for him.

donghyuck heads over to jeno, taking the seat opposite to him. he opens his mouth to whine about how he’s missing precious time he could have used for taking a five-hour nap, but jeno beats him to it. 

“mark and a friend of his are joining us,” jeno tells him as donghyuck nods. 

“do we know him?” donghyuck asks as jeno scrolls through his phone. 

“i don’t know either, but he’s friends with taeyong as well, so maybe if he came around the dance studio before, i’d be able to recognise him.” 

donghyuck lets out a low hum as the entrance of the coffeeshop opens, causing the bell to chime. jeno cranes his neck towards the entrance, telling donghyuck, “mark is here!” 

donghyuck looks up, expecting to see mark, ready to mutter out a _hi,_ _mark_ , but the words die on his tongue when right beside mark is none other than peach hair guy–except it’s _not_. donghyuck’s sure it’s him, but he definitely doesn’t have peach hair anymore, now a darker shade of _pink_. and he still manages to somehow unreasonably pull it off. (maybe that’s a bit of an understatement but donghyuck would never admit so.) 

mark opens his mouth to say something – probably a sentiment of greeting, but whatever it is, it gets interrupted by donghyuck. 

“it’s you!” donghyuck blurts out, not really thinking before he does so. 

pink hair guy’s eyes widen at the sight of donghyuck and mark glances between the two of them, asking, “do you two know each other or..?” 

“not really?” donghyuck shrugs while pink hair guy sighs, mumbling, “it’s a long story.” 

“um,” mark begins, “alright. well, this is na jaemin. we met through renjun-” 

“we’re childhood friends of some sorts,” jaemin finishes, tone cheery. 

jeno glances between donghyuck and jaemin for a moment before turning to jaemin, chirping out, “hi, i’m lee jeno! i’m a friend of mark’s.” jaemin smiles at jeno faintly and then all eyes turn to donghyuck. 

he doesn’t understand why until he realises that he hasn’t introduced himself yet. clearing his throat lightly, donghyuck manages a friendly smile. “i’m lee donghyuck. nice to meet you na jaemin.” 

donghyuck almost doesn’t hear jaemin’s soft, _just_ _jaemin_ _is fine_ , because mark sits next to jeno which means jaemin is sitting next to _him_ and donghyuck’s brain short circuits for a moment. donghyuck tells himself it’s because their first meeting was so peculiar but donghyuck _knows_ that it’s more than just that. 

“i’ll get us our orders,” mark announces getting up. when jeno follows behind, announcing, “i’ll get mine and hyuck’s,” donghyuck widens his eyes at jeno. he hopes to use their soulmate telepathy system to say, _don’t go, you little shit._ but jeno goes off anyway and donghyuck swears that he’s doing this on purpose. 

donghyuck doesn’t get to protest though, because jeno’s already left the table, leaving just jaemin and donghyuck. neither of them initiate any conversation, and donghyuck can _feel_ the awkwardness hanging in the air. 

“fancy seeing you here, huh?” donghyuck cringes inwardly at his own voice. 

jaemin however doesn’t seem to mind as much, nodding. “i’ll take that you’re mark’s cousin?” donghyuck nods in response, muttering a soft, _yeah_. followed by another round of uncomfortable silence. 

donghyuck prays internally that jeno and mark hurries up and spares donghyuck from this entire situation. he questions whether or not he should bring up their last encounter or not in a feeble attempt to dissolve the tension. 

jaemin opens his mouth to say something, but thankfully donghyuck is spared the expense of having to come up with a decent reply by jeno who hands him his drink. mark follows shortly after, taking the seat beside jeno. 

“so, jaemin,” mark begins, “how _did_ you and hyuck meet? i didn’t know that you knew each other prior.” 

donghyuck glances briefly at jaemin, wondering whether the other male would take it upon himself to explain whatever their encounter was, but jaemin doesn’t seem to be planning on doing that anytime soon and mark’s kind of looking at him rather expectantly–and donghyuck kind of hates himself for deciding to meet up with jeno here today. 

“well, jaemin was working at the public library,” donghyuck begins. saying jaemin’s name out loud instead of ‘peach hair guy’ felt weird. “i was just looking for a librarian and i came across him. it wasn’t too big of an interaction or anything. i guess it’s hard to forget a face when they have peach hair.” 

mark lets out a short laugh, “peach hair? jaemin never dyed his hair peach before?” 

donghyuck furrows his brows, titling his head slightly. well, that doesn’t make any sense. he turns to jaemin who stiffens just a little, a weary sort of smile on his face. 

“you know how it is,” he begins, scratching the back of his head, “when pink dye starts to fade it sort of looks peachy, i suppose.” donghyuck opens his mouth to say something, probably about how that doesn’t really make any sense, but he stops himself as mark starts recounting some sort of funny story that happened the other day. 

as the rest of them turn their attention to him, donghyuck glances at jaemin from the corner of his eye. jaemin meets his gaze and raises his eyebrows, as if to say _what are you looking at?_ and donghyuck ignores the blush creeping up his neck as he looks away. 

he concludes that there is certainly something going on with jaemin, and that whatever it is, you can bet his ass that he’ll get to the bottom of it. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

donghyuck gives up trying to convince jeno that _jaemin_ is the one acting weird when the elder tells him, “come on, hyuck. i was there at the cafe with you, there’s nothing odd about him. he’s just another college student. why’re you so obsessed with jaemin anyway, do you have a crush on him?” 

donghyuck chokes on his spit, letting out a string of weak protests. “i don’t have a crush on him!” he says a bit too rushed, “i just- he's – something's just _off_ about him, you know? and i wanna get to the bottom of it. that’s all.” jeno sighs and shakes his head. 

since donghyuck realises that jeno’s obviously completely useless in this matter, insistent that he’s actually the ‘voice of reason’ (donghyuck calls bullshit), he decides that he needs to find someone else to confide this matter with. someone who’s on the same wavelength as him. 

that immediately eliminates renjun and mark as they’re both friends of jaemin and will probably call donghyuck insane and overdramatic if he voices any of this out. well, renjun would do that, mark on the other hand would try to humour donghyuck but ultimately make things worse because if they’re anything donghyucks hates more than being babied, its being pitied. 

this time, donghyuck finds himself at the campus library once again, alone. he has his biology paper coming up and he’s currently trying to cram every but of last-minute revision he can with whatever time he has with varying results. 

jeno actually offered to help donghyuck with his revision, bless him honestly, but donghyuck refused, knowing that his roommate had a dance recital coming up and really should be rehearsing with the dance team instead. (not that they need any more perfecting, if you ask donghyuck, but jeno would refuse to believe otherwise.) 

he’s kind of regretting not bringing any kind of company along because he finds himself falling asleep for the third time in the past twenty minutes. donghyuck can’t help it – this part of the library is so nice and quiet.. and his stack of papers actually appear to be a pretty good pillow– 

“hey, stranger.” 

donghyuck jolts his head up, maybe a little too fast because he feels a crick in his neck pop, causing him to grimace. he looks up to see jaemin looking down at him, in all his blonde-haired glory. _blonde looks nice on him_ , donghyuck thinks immediately, then pretends he doesn’t because the last thing donghyuck needs is to be distracted by the enemy. 

well, _enemy_ might be a bit much, even for donghyuck , but he’d rather be damned than consider na jaemin a _friend_. 

“are you stalking me?” donghyuck asks, narrowing his eyes at the other male, all while subconsciously pushing away his things to the side to make some space for jaemin. jaemin notices because he settles down beside donghyuck, putting down his coffee and textbook. _introduction to psychology,_ donghyuck reads and internally scowls. the last thing he needs is for jaemin to somehow go all psych major on him and hyper-analyse his every move – but isn't that what he’s been doing, though? - says the voice in donghyuck’s head that sounds way too much like jeno. donghyuck ignores it. 

jaemin offers donghyuck an easy smile. “while i certainly wouldn’t mind following such a pretty face around, i can’t say i have.” 

“flattery will get you nowhere, na,” donghyuck huffs out. he prays to god that the tips of his ears aren’t turning red. to his dismay, the smirk that spreads on jaemin’s lips tell him otherwise. 

“where’s jeno?” jaemin asks, opening his laptop. 

“he’s practising for his dance recital he has coming up. honestly, i don’t even know why he needs to practice so much. if you see him, you’ll know what i mean – the guy’s always rehearsing, you’d think he spends more time at the dance studio than at the apartment.”

donghyuck stops when he realises that he’s rambling, about _jeno_ , the bane of donghyuck’s existence – to _na_ _jaemin_ out of everyone, the soon to be second bane of his existence. 

donghyuck coughs, embarrassed. “sorry, i was rambling wasn’t i?” 

jaemin shakes his head, the grin on his face only widening, if that was even possible. “jeno means a lot to you, doesn’t he?” 

donghyuck’s about to agree when he catches on to what jaemin means and rushes to say, “ _jeno_ _?_ ” donghyuck blanches at the thought of dating his roommate - “gross, we’re not like that – he’s like a brother to me! besides, jeno is like neck-deep in love with mark. i’m sick of third-wheeling them on their not-dates.” 

if donghyuck notices jaemin inflate just a little after he says that, he supposes it makes sense. mark probably told him about his enormous crush on jeno and jaemin’s probably relieved that his friend’s affections are reciprocated. yeah, that’s what is it is. 

donghyuck opens his mouth to say something but he remembers why he’s even here in the first place. “fuck, i’m so gonna fail my bio midterm,” donghyuck groans out, earning several dirty looks from other students sitting near him. 

jaemin lets out a short bark of laughter and donghyuck kind of wants to bottle it up and listen to it forever. god, he’s finally going crazy, isn’t he? 

“how much revision do you have left?” it’s an off-handed question, and donghyuck doesn’t look up from his unread biology notes. “the test is on chapters three to eight, and i’m pretty much done with the last chapter. i mean, i’ve been studying non-stop but it feels like nothing’s actually going inside my head, y’know?” 

jaemin lets out an understanding hum. donghyuck lets his head bang against the table rather loudly. a couple of students from around them shoots their table a glare. donghyuck ignores them. 

“hey, don’t do that,” jaemin chides donghyuck lightly, “permanent brain damage won’t make you suddenly ace your midterms. but i do know something that might be just what you need.” 

that piques donghyuck’s interest because the chestnut-haired boy looks up to see jaemin push his coffee towards him. “coffee...is your solution?” 

“trust me on this, caffeine works wonders,” jaemin replies, looking at donghyuck expectantly. 

donghyuck tries to ignore the mantra in his head going, _indirect kiss, indirect kiss, indirect kiss!_ instead, he replies with, “trying to poison me, na?” 

that earns a laugh from jaemin, and donghyuck wonders why he feels a little proud. “wouldn’t dream of it, lee. your roommate would kill me.” 

there are plenty of things donghyuck can reply with to keep the banter going and also shift the conversation away from donghyuck drinking jaemin’s coffee, but jaemin _did_ offer and donghyuck’s inner college student tells him that he’d be a fool to refuse free food of any kind. 

without another word, donghyuck takes the cup of coffee, letting the coolness of it reach the tip of his fingers, before taking a sip – and immediately regretting it. donghyuck breaks into a coughing fit as his face screws up in disgust. the overwhelming taste of bitterness doesn’t leave his mouth. 

this time, the people around donghyuck look more concerned than actually annoyed but jaemin’s expression suggests that he’s used to this kind of reaction. “you _were_ trying to kill me! what was that?” 

“that, my friend,” jaemin begins, “is a venti iced americano with four extra shots of expresso. or, as i like to call it, the best way for an instant A.” in any other circumstance, donghyuck would question how jaemin is even alive at this point, consuming all that devil juice. instead, his mind focuses on how jaemin just called him a _friend_. 

“we’re friends?” donghyuck asks. 

“well, i’d hope so. i don’t really offer my drink to just everybody, you know.” 

donghyuck resists the urge to snort. he fails. “just the people you hate, then?” 

jaemin rolls his eyes. “how about this, if you ace your midterm, i’ll let you show me what real coffee tastes like, alright? i’ll even pay. by then, we’ll have to be friends.” 

see, donghyuck could easily reject jaemin’s offer. tell him that he’s busy and that maybe they’ll talk some other time, and just continue living life pre-jaemin era. it would be easy and it’s what post-jaemin era donghyuck would have wanted to do. 

but here’s the thing, donghyuck still hasn’t figured out what exactly is off about jaemin (other than his apparent wish to ruin his scalp before he turns thirty). so, getting closer to jaemin would be the perfect opportunity for donghyuck to uncover whatever secrets jaemin is hiding, and also have the satisfaction of being able to tell jeno _i_ _told you so_ , when he discovers the Truth about na jaemin. 

that, and _maybe_ because jaemin is a little fun to be around. but donghyuck doesn’t need to tell anyone that. 

“you have yourself a deal, na.” donghyuck’s grin mirrors jaemin’s. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

by some miracle of nature, donghyuck not only ends up passing his biology midterm, but _aces_ it, coming at the top of his class.

donghyuck doesn’t really know how that ends up happening considering how he entered the lecture hall that day feeling like he knew less than he did at the beginning of the year – but hey, he’s not the type to ask questions when luck chooses to be in his favour. 

he thinks the best course of action would be to celebrate by getting wasted at some frat party with jeno, but unfortunately his roommate has _finally_ scored himself a date with mark and getting drunk alone doesn’t really sound like a fun way to spend the weekend. besides, mark and jeno would most likely force donghyuck to come with them than allow him to get drunk by himself. 

(if donghyuck tries to convince his overprotective friends otherwise, they’ll bring up the incident in his freshman year of college when a very drunk donghyuck went home with a pretty stranger he met at a bar.

that itself wasn’t a problem because the stranger was a gentleman, as far as one night stands went. no, the problem was that _home_ for the pretty stranger happened to be in daejeon, a city that was a two-hour drive from seoul. 

so, when donghyuck was ready for his walk-of-shame back to his apartment, he came to realise that he had absolutely no idea where he was, his phone had no battery, and the guy he went home with was a chinese exchange student at daejeon university that didn’t speak a word of korean. 

eventually, donghyuck ended up heading back to seoul, but that was only after earning an earful form the police, an even bigger earful from jeno and the most awkward drive with johnny back to seoul. safe to say, donghyuck wasn’t allowed anywhere near a club for the entire semester.) 

donghyuck opens imessage to drop a text to renjun to ask if he wants to get shitfaced when an unknown number causes his phone to buzz. it doesn’t take him much thinking to guess who it could be. 

> **unknown number**
> 
> hey its jaemin
> 
> jaemin na
> 
> mark gave me your kkt id 
> 
> **you**
> 
> thanks for clarifying i couldnt figure it out which jaemin it was among the thousands of jaemins i happen to be friends with 
> 
> **jaemin**
> 
> ouch
> 
> as snarky as ever even online 
> 
> i like that ;)
> 
> **you**
> 
> im literally going to block you 
> 
> **jaemin**
> 
> :( 
> 
> before u do that dont u wanna show me ur idea of superior coffee? 
> 
> unless you’re busy of course haha

donghyuck stares at his screen. he could very well just lie to jaemin and tell him that he has plans and pester jaehyun or someone else to go drinking with him.

but donghyuck is a man of his word and he _did_ promise jaemin that he’d go and get coffee with him if he aced his bio- 

> **you**
> 
> wait how did you know i did well for my test 
> 
> **jaemin**
> 
> word travels fast you know 
> 
> **you**
> 
> literally Who would be gossiping about my grades out of all things
> 
> **jaemin**
> 
> ur dodging the question, lee
> 
> u down for a coffee run? cafe nearest to campus? 
> 
> **you**
> 
> you better not be late, na
> 
> **jaemin**
> 
> consider me already out the door

donghyuck doesn’t really realise what he’s doing until he arrives at the cafe jaemin mentioned, slightly out of breath. that’s weird because it’s not like donghyuck is that out of shape to be panting at at a five-minute walk, but because he, lee donghyuck, actually fucking ran all the way to the cafe. to meet _jaemin_ _._

perhaps he’s being slightly dramatic – it's no big deal; nobody likes to be late. 

but then again, this is _donghyuck_ , and donghyuck doesn’t really care for being on time. even if he’s supposed to meet up with jeno in five minutes, it won’t stop him from grabbing a cup of boba along the way and turning up only ten minutes later, two cups of bubble tea in his hand and a shit-eating grin on his face. 

jaemin didn’t even give him a specific time to meet him and donghyuck could’ve taken a casual stroll to the cafe, but he didn’t.

donghyuck decides to not think about that anymore – for all he knows, maybe jaemin did spike his coffee to make donghyuck actually _anticipate_ meeting up with him. his frown deepens. this only drives him to be more motivated to finish Operation: Expose Jaemin Na, or OEJN for short. 

he spots the familiar blonde through the window of the cafe and makes his way inside, tugging his parka a little tighter at the brittle air. 

inside, jaemin spots donghyuck and waves at him, wearing his typically broad grin. it’s still annoyingly dazzling, and donghyuck kind of hates himself for mirroring it with his own. 

jaemin’s wearing an old university hoodie that donghyuck also probably has, at the back of his closet somewhere, matched with a pair of sweatpants and he’s literally doing the absolute bare minimum, but it doesn’t stop donghyuck’s heart from skipping a beat. 

“what happened? did the salon run out of hair dye?” donghyuck says in lieu of a greeting, a smirk working his way on his face.

although jaemin’s hair is (surprisingly) still blonde, the latter seems to have dyed his fringe a dark blue and it shouldn’t work, yet it doesn’t even look half bad on jaemin. 

jaemin pushes back his dark blue bangs and rolls his eyes. “it’s a fashion statement. and just so you know, a simple thank you would have been fine.” 

donghyuck lets out a short bark of laughter. “for what?” 

“my coffee, of course! if it weren’t for my miraculous iced americano, you wouldn’t have done as well for your bio test,” is jaemin’s simple reply. “like i said, it works wonders.” 

“bet.” 

“i’m serious!” jaemin insists, “it helped mark pass his finals and renjun get a part-time job at the convenience store near his dorm.” 

donghyuck bites back the urge to snort. “alrighty then, let me show my gratitude by introducing to you drinks that _won’t_ cut your lifespan by twenty years with each cup. you know, to spruce things up a bit.” 

donghyuck ends up getting jaemin a caramel macchiato with extra whipped cream at the top and jaemin finds his own way of retaliating by getting donghyuck an iced americano (without all the added expresso shots, thank god). safe to say, without even of the quarter of the cup finished, the pair decide to switch drinks. 

“you’re going to get diabetes, hyuckie,” jaemin tells him, scrunching his nose up in mock disgust. donghyuck thinks that’s rich coming from jaemin, the latter probably at high risk of getting high blood pressure, and intends to tell him just that but his mind registers what jaemin called him and the words die at the back of his throat. 

jaemin just called him _hyuckie_ and is doing a great job at pretending nothing just happened. a faint blush starts to make its way on donghyuck’s cheeks and jaemin does him a favour by ignoring the sudden lull in the conversation. 

“you know what this means,” jaemin begins, his lips quirking up to a smile. “we’re officially friends now! your life has been blessed with the addition of one na jaemin. you’re welcome.” 

“what sin did i commit in my past life to deserve this torture,” donghyuck says solemnly, but the mirth in his eyes betray his words. 

_friends_ , donghyuck thinks. it feels a bit funny to make such a big deal out of this – hell, he’s basically friends with a third of the people at campus, but something about jaemin makes it feel special. 

jaemin’s an enigma of some sorts –donghyuck has literally known him for a grand total of two weeks - but at the same time, him and donghyuck click so well that they forget how long they’ve been talking until donghyuck checks his phone to realise that it’s already past eleven and his phone is practically vibrating out of his pocket probably because of thirty or so unread messages from jeno. 

“i’ll see you around, hyuck,” jaemin tells him, eyes bright under the streetlights. they’re standing outside the cafe, and even though they’re surrounded by a certain coolness only late nights in seoul possess, donghyuck feels warm. 

he looks up and jaemin is glowing. 

like, literally. donghyuck swears that jaemin must have spilt glitter on his face because the small specks of glitter dust the bridge of jaemin’s nose like diamond freckles. he doesn’t know whether it’s even possible for someone to - _sparkle? is that the word? -_ like this, and truth be told, donghyuck kind of wants to live a little more in this moment where jaemin looks like he’s made entirely of stardust. 

but then, donghyuck blinks and the moment is gone. there are no longer sequins dotting every inch of jaemin’s skin. he still glows, but not exactly like the stars that fill up the dark canvas of the sky – now, he's just a blonde-haired boy under the flickering fluorescent lights of a streetlamp and donghyuck wonders if he’d had imagined the whole thing in his head. 

jaemin gives him a funny sort of look. “what? do i have anything on my face?” 

“no, you just look kind of sickly under the street lights,” donghyuck lies, straight through his teeth. “i was worried all the caffeine was finally getting to you.” 

later, when donghyuck is finally on his way back to his apartment, he wastes no time getting out his phone, opening up the notes app and typing in furiously: _jaemin_ _is a VAMPIRE???_

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

donghyuck’s on the sofa, idly switching through different channels when jeno arrives back to their shared apartment, back from his classes. he’s got a knowing smile as he approaches donghyuck and if living with jeno for the past two years have taught him anything, that smile means nothing good. 

“what do you want,” donghyuck says in a deadpan, shooting jeno an unamused look. to his disdain, the smug smile doesn’t leave jeno’s face. 

“why must you always be so mean to me?" jeno frowns, a pout forming on his lips. donghyuck raises a brow at his best friend, conveying, _are we really going there?_

“honestly, if anyone should be having an attitude it should be me!” jeno goes on to say, “you really thought that you could hide such a big secret from your own best friend? i’m hurt.” 

at this point, donghyuck literally has no idea what jeno is going on about. big secret? “what the fuck are you talking about, jen?” 

“you think no one would notice you going on coffee dates with jaemin at the campus cafe? since when did you and him get so chummy with each other, huh?” jeno raises a brow at him like he’s expecting some form of grand reaction. donghyuck does not deliver. 

“have you literally never heard of friends just hanging out with each other? this is the 21st century, lee jeno, people can spend time with others without being romantic. i expected better from you.” donghyuck turns his attention away from jeno back to the tv, much to jeno’s chagrin. 

“you _know_ that’s not what i meant, asshole,” jeno pinches donghyuck lightly, but in typical lee jeno fashion, he still sounds apologetic. “it’s just weird to see you close with him when you couldn’t stop whining about him at the beginning. knowing how goddamn stubborn you can be, it kinda gave me whiplash hearing that you’re being more than diplomatic with him.” 

“you wound me, jen,” donghyuck replies in mock offense. “and you’re right, it is a bit weird seeing me befriending him. but fear not, it’s just one of the phases of OEJN. or in proper terms: Operation: Expose Jaemin Na. i’m still kinda working on the name.” 

“oh my god, why are you like this.” 

donghyuck decides to ignore jeno and continue with his explanation. “phase one of OEJN is simple. i gain jaemin’s trust and over time get closer to him before i commence with phase two: the sleuthing before i finally reach the third stage: expose whatever na jaemin is hiding from the world.” 

“and what exactly is jaemin hiding from the world?” jeno looks nonplussed. donghyuck can’t say he’s surprised, his best friend unfortunately has always been a disbeliever of his antics. 

“weren’t you listening? i just said that’s part of phase three! it’s extremely crucial to stick along closely to the guiding steps.” to prove his point, donghyuck opens up his notes app to show jeno what he has come up thus far. 

jeno takes a wary glance at donghyuck’s phone. “hold up, you think jaemin is a _what_ –” 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

after midterms end, it becomes somewhat of a norm for donghyuck to go out with jaemin for a late night coffee run (they’ve agreed on a truce on which type of coffee is superior) or even have cram study sessions together even though donghyuck is a biology major while jaemin takes psychology. 

and just as naturally, jaemin seems to seamlessly blend in with his regular friend circle, having already been acquainted with jeno, mark and renjun. yet, even outside of their outings as a group, the two of them find themselves in each other’s company more often than not. 

this earns an eyebrow raise from renjun who looks like he knows something donghyuck doesn’t, but doesn’t say anything. mark, lord bless his soul, also remains silent telling donghyuck that he’s glad to have introduced the two of them. jeno, however, isn’t as lovely nor as subtle as his other friends because he takes it upon himself to corner donghyuck after classes one day. 

“seriously hyuck, what’s going on between you and jaemin?” 

“i’m just initializing phase two, jen.” 

jeno looks like he wants to punch him in the face. donghyuck thinks he’s being dramatic. 

his point gets proven when jeno gives him _that_ look as donghyuck’s about to leave the apartment later that night. “where do you think you’re going?” jeno asks him, and the whole situation reminds donghyuck of when his parents would catch him trying to sneak out at night back in high school. 

“i’m literally just going out to grab some coffee.” 

“at 9PM on a thursday?” jeno raises a brow. 

“don’t worry _mom_ , i’m not gonna get mugged. jaemin’s gonna be there too.” 

“i knew it!” jeno says, sounding far too smug for donghyuck’s liking, “you’re sneaking off to see your boyfriend again!” 

donghyuck chokes on his own spit. “ _boyfriend?"_ he snorts, “we’re not dating. hell, i don’t even know if he swings that way. but it’s not like i’m interested in him like that, anyway.” 

“so you’re _not_ into jaemin?” 

“no? what kind of question is that?” 

jaemin is objectively attractive and subjectively dazzling, but donghyuck’s more than happy to have him around as a friend that isn’t as obnoxious as his other friends. he’s funny and charming and donghyuck thinks it would be silly to pass up an opportunity to spend time with a new friend. emphasis on the word _friend_. 

it’s also the perfect way for phase two, of course, a voice at the back of his head reminds him. _oh_ , donghyuck had forgotten about the whole OEJN thing when agreeing to grab drinks with jaemin. it must be because he’s so used to the whole sleuthing phase anyway, he tells himself. 

“you know it’s okay right? for you to like jaemin?” jeno tells him softly, his eyes warm. and in any other context, donghyuck would be touched to receive this level of care from his friend – except, donghyuck had come out as gay all the way back in sophomore year of highschool and it’s a little too late for the ‘coming out’ talk now. 

“i think i’m pretty aware of the fact that liking boys is okay, jeno. but thanks for the pep talk, i guess?” that earns a low groan from jeno who rolls his eyes at donghyuck, exasperation evident. 

“you know what? fuck you,” jeno settles for instead. “you’ll see when you come crawling back to me and saying _oh_ _jen_ _,_ _i’m_ _terribly in love with_ _jaemin_ _na_ _and_ _i_ _don’t know what to do!_ then i’ll be there to tell you i told you so.” donghyuck winces at jeno’s poor imitation of his voice as he closes the front door behind him. 

“you know, jeno was being really weird today,” donghyuck tells jaemin later as they walk back to their homes from the cafe. today, jaemin suggested that they try out a different shop a little further because he heard that the drinks there were amazing. donghyuck didn’t find any reason to disagree. 

jaemin lets out a hum to let him know that he’s listening. 

“he genuinely thought we were dating or something because how i always sneak out to hang out with you – his words, not mine. isn’t that so random? i’ve gone out with tons of friends without it being a romantic thing,” donghyuck says. “and when i told him we’re not, he gave me _that_ look, like he knows something i don’t? weird.” 

donghyuck stops talking when he realises jaemin just stopped in the middle of the road. “nana, you coming?” he asks. 

jaemin looks up at donghyuck and shoots him an apologetic smile. “sorry, hyuckie, but could you help me carry this?” he asks, referring to one of the coffee trays he’s holding. immediately, donghyuck takes it from him, not before babbling, “oh my god, i’m such an asshole. yeah, of course-” 

(for whatever reason, every time the pair go out for their late night caffeine escapades, jaemin ends up ordering seven different drinks, some of them not even coffee. jaemin says that it’s for his roommates then donghyuck asks him why he has so many, jaemin sheepishly says, “i kind of live in a frat..?” 

“never would have thought you’d be a fratboy,” donghyuck muses. jaemin shrugs. “then why are you always the poor dude that has to grab everyone else’s drinks?” 

“it’s kind of my calling,” jaemin says seriously. it takes donghyuck a second too long to realise that it’s a joke and he smacks jaemin’s arm in response.) 

the two of them continue walking as a comfortable silence falls over them. jaemin’s using his left to hold the drinks and donghyuck with his right, it’s only inevitable that their free hands brush as they walk. except, when it first happens, donghyuck feels jaemin’s kunckles against his for a split second and without warning, donghyuck feels a spark and his skin prickles. 

not the kind of spark as in the ones that happens in rom-coms, but like an actual jolt of electricity that genuinely leaves his hand burning. “ow,” he hisses, “did you feel that?” 

jaemin gives donghyuck a confused look. “what?” 

“did you not feel that?” donghyuck asks again. to prove his point, he takes jaemin’s free hand in his – except, nothing happens and donghyuck is just holding jaemin’s hand for no apparent reason. “no, i swear, just a second ago i felt like electricity or something-” 

a smirk finds his way on jaemin’s lips that makes donghyuck regret ever opening his mouth in the first place. “if you wanted to hold my hand so bad, you could have just said so, hyuck.” 

donghyuck is rendered speechless for a moment, the tips of his ears turning flaming red. then he remembers that he’s _lee_ _donghyuck_ and lee donghyuck doesn’t get flustered, especially not by jaemin na. so he yanks his hand away, scowling at jaemin . “fuck you, na. i can’t believe i took precious time out of my day to accompany you. friendship card officially _revoked_.” 

unfortunately, and to his utter dismay, this does nothing to deter the menace that is jaemin na. jaemin lets out a hearty laugh and decides to take donghyuck’s hand anyway, intertwining their fingers as they continue walking. 

donghyuck gives him a funny sort of look, kind of like he’s asking, _what are you doing, asshole?_ internally, his stupid little heart is beating ten times faster and he swears that his palm is getting sweaty even though its cold outside. 

jaemin simply flashes him a dazzling smile and says, “my hands were cold.” 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

in hindsight, donghyuck should have seen it coming. 

jeno always has an annoying habit of being right when donghyuck doesn’t want him to be. in his defence, what could have prepared him for the disastrous event that would follow? (a lot of things, actually, but donghyuck isn’t ready to admit that, yet.) the universe is cruel, donghyuck thinks. 

in less dramatic terms, donghyuck has a crush. a terribly big crush on the most terrible person – jaemin na. technically, there were a lot of factors to donghyuck coming to the Big Revelation that he indeed, does have the hots for jaemin. but if he has to narrow it down to one event that was the catalyst to everything else, then– 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

donghyuck supposes it begins a lot like this: 

“curse my tiny as hell closet,” donghyuck hisses out, throwing yet another pair of distressed jeans on his bed. his closet is practically half empty now, with the other half in a growing pile on his bed. 

jeno glances up from his phone and shifts his focus from donghyuck to the pile of clothes on his bed. “what’s up? you going on a date or something?” 

donghyuck snorts at that. “as if i’d ever put in so much effort for a date. i’m just going out with jaemin, he’s introducing me to his friends today and i’d like to make a nice impression.” 

now it’s jeno’s turn to muffle a laugh. “you sound like you’re meeting the in-laws or something.” 

donghyuck shoots jeno a glare but the latter remains unfazed, already too used to receiving this kind of treatment from his best friend. “you can’t blame me for not wanting to look like a homeless person in front of jaemin’s frat bros.” 

“yo, jaemin’s in a fraternity?” 

“kind of, but not really. either way, you’re right, it sounds weird. that’s why this is the perfect time for me to do my expert sleuthing!” donghyuck says across the room. 

“you’re still doing that stupid plan?” jeno whines, momentarily looking up from his phone. 

donghyuck lets out a melodramatic gasp. “first of all, do _not_ call OEJN stupid, i’d like to see you come up with something better. and secondly, we're going with the plan. you’re involved in this just as much as i am, jeno lee.” 

“go away,” jeno grumbles, “this is in no way a _we_ situation.” 

“oh yeah?” donghyuck challenges, “well i’m gonna show mark all the embarrassing poetry you wrote about him.” jeno lets out a sound that can only be described as a distressed yelp and donghyuck feels a shit eating grin spread on his lips. 

“this is blackmail!” jeno complains. 

donghyuck shrugs. “all is fair in love and war.” then he walks into the bathroom to change, but not before jeno yells out, “so you admit this is for love?” donghyuck’s voice comes muffled through the bathroom door. 

“it’s gonna be war if you don’t shut up, lee jeno.” donghyuck yells back, rolling his eyes at the sound of jeno’s laughter through the door. 

when the Uber first drops donghyuck off at where jaemin supposedly lives, donghyuck thinks that maybe he gave the driver the wrong address. wanting to double check with the driver, donghyuck turns around to ask for the address, but he doesn’t get the chance as the black sedan drives away. 

“fantastic,” donghyuck mutters to himself, pulling the sleeves of his sweater down. 

currently, donghyuck finds himself in one of the nicer neighbourhoods near campus that are filled with psuedo-mansions someone like donghyuck can only dream of living in. donghyuck by no means is an expert in house ownership, but he’s pretty sure no average college student can afford a place like this. 

if watching trashy dramas with jeno has taught him anything, it’s that jaemin might be a chaebol. that, or maybe donghyuck is overthinking things a little too much. 

either way, he doesn’t get the chance to ponder too much over it because the door opens at that moment revealing the freshmen donghyuck saw back at the library. “you’re donghyuck?” the freshmen asks, smiling. 

donghyuck flashes him an easy smile. “the one and only,” he replies, stepping inside, “been reading any good witch books recently?” 

the boy lets out a confused hum before realisation dawns and he says, “ _oh_ , that. yeah!” 

something about the way he says it causes donghyuck to raise a brow, but his train of thought gets cut off by jaemin’s voice. “hyuck, you made it!” jaemin says, pulling donghyuck into a tight hug that leaves him feeling warm all over. “and i see you’ve met chenle.” 

in the living room, donghyuck is then met with what he can only assume to be the rest of jaemin’s _frat brothers?_ except, none of them look like enough of a himbo to fit his stereotype of what people who live in frats look like. and the house – more like psuedo-mansion honestly – doesn't really fit the typical criteria for a frat house either. 

a guy with a kind smile and dark eyebrows introduces himself first. “it’s nice to meet you! i’m dejun.” he then points towards the two people playing battlegrounds on the tv console, “those assholes are kunhang and yangyang. i’d say usually they’re more social, but my mom didn’t raise a liar.” 

yangyang flips dejun off before looking up at donghyuck. his eyes switch from donghyuck to jaemin who’s standing beside him and donghyuck thinks that jaemin honestly looks kind of constipated. then, yangyang’s lips pull to an amused grin. putting down his controller, he gets up from the couch and extends his hand, presumably for donghyuck to shake. 

yangyang’s grip is a little tight when they shake hands, and donghyuck swears that him and jaemin are having some sort of silent conversation with their eyes, but he brushes it off. he rather this than jaemin’s roommates disliking him or something. 

“donghyuck! we’ve heard _a lot_ about you,” yangyang tells donghyuck who glances over at over at jaemin with a raise of a brow _,_ to say, _what have you been telling people about me,_ _na_ _?_ briefly, donghyuck wonders if it’s anything similar to what he tells jeno about jaemin. 

“all good things,” jaemin assures, narrowing his eyes slightly at yangyang. 

“ _very_ good things,” kunhang adds suddenly, shifting up from his original position of leaning back on the couch. 

see, donghyuck may be dense, but he’s seen this scene play out a thousand times (albeit it’s usually when _he’s_ the instigator). he knows they’re making fun of jaemin for something – because he does the same to mark all the time – except, donghyuck doesn’t really understand what for. _probably some inside joke_ , donghyuck thinks. 

from the kitchen, another head pops out and his eyes widen when he spots donghyuck. “oh! you must be jaemin’s friend. i’m kun, single father of six.” donghyuck smiles back at kun before his brows furrow. “six? i’ve only seen five-” 

“hey guys, i’m back with booze!” yells an all too familiar voice from the front door that causes donghyuck to stiffen. donghyuck isn’t religious in any way, but in that moment he prays to whatever deity that exists out there that the seventh housemate is _not_ who donghyuck thinks it is. 

and because the universe has taken a particular disliking towards him, into the living room walks in wong yukhei - a guy that donghyuck has on multiple occasions drunkenly made out with at parties, and also a guy donghyuck has been spectacularly avoiding until now. 

“donghyuck?” yukhei says, almost like he can’t believe it either. 

donghyuck plasters the best fake smile he can manage on his face. “yukhei! fancy seeing you here haha..” 

“you know each other?” yangyang asks, and yukhei opens his mouth like he wants to say something but donghyuck cuts him off before he even has the chance. “we see each other on campus sometimes, that’s all.” 

“actually, i just remembered. jaemin really wanted to show me something?” donghyuck blurts out as a last resort and jaemin furrows his brows at him. “i do?” 

“yep!” donghyuck gives jaemin a pointed look, trying his best to communicate, _help me out here, dude_. 

jaemin must catch on because he straightens his shoulders and smiles at yukhei, “yes, it’s like, really urgent.” 

“you really need to do that now?” yukhei doesn’t look like he wants to drop this yet. donghyuck has to resist the urge to let out a groan. 

“yeah,” jaemin confirms, his tone laced with finality. without waiting for yukhei’s reply, he grabs donghyuck’s wrists and leads him out to the back garden of the house. this gives donghyuck the chance to scan the interior of the place and _wow, this place is huge_. 

outside, the cold air hits donghyuck and he’s glad he wore a sweater but then he sees jaemin shivering slightly in his plain white tee and grumbles, “why did you bring us outside, loser. you’re shivering.” taking off his sweater, he offers it to jaemin, “here, take this.” 

jaemin gives donghyuck a funny sort of look. “you do realise we can just go back in, right?” 

oh, donghyuck realizes. he feels embarrassed and honestly a little stupid. but he’s lee donghyuck and he doesn’t _get_ embarrassed so he clears his throat and tells jaemin, “look, i took it off anyway, so just take it. it’s cashmere.” 

that must be the selling point because jaemin rolls his eyes and puts it on and donghyuck’s glad that he wears oversized clothing because his sweater fits jaemin perfectly. actually, it fits jaemin a little _too_ perfectly, the sweater highlighting jaemin’s broad shoulders and suddenly donghyuck decides that jaemin should be the one keeping the sweater. 

“like what you see, lee?” jaemin asks, eyes shining with mirth. 

donghyuck clears his throat. “shut up, na. i just don’t want you to stretch out my sweater. it’s one of my favourites.” 

“what was that back in there anyway?” jaemin asks, and maybe it was just donghyuck’s wishful thinking when he hoped that jaemin wouldn’t ask him about his questionable behaviour. 

“uh, me and yukhei, we kind of fool around sometimes? we used to, at least,” donghyuck begins. jaemin’s face remains neutral so donghyuck continues with, “it was never serious, though. the problem is that we never actually talked about it, so now it’s awkward whenever we see each other outside of parties. not to mention i’ve also been highkey avoiding him like the plague – so i wouldn’t be surprised if he has a couple of questions.” 

somehow, jaemin’s lack of reaction makes donghyuck feel even more uneasy. “yukhei isn’t the type to push-” jaemin starts. 

“yeah, i know,” donghyuck agrees. “i’m just bad at confrontation, and we’ve never talked about it.” 

jaemin’s eyes lock with donghyuck’s and the sudden intensity of his gaze causes donghyuck to break eye contact. “you don’t _like_ yukhei, do you?” 

“i - what?” the question takes him by surprise. “no, not like that! only as a friend.” 

donghyuck notices jaemin’s shoulders relax a little. he tries not to think too much about it. “then you should talk it out with him. yukhei’s a cool dude and knowing him, dude probably doesn’t know how _you’re_ feeling. when you come over again then you’ll run into him anyway and there’s probably no way you can make an excuse every time.” 

donghyuck can’t help the small smile that spreads on his lips at jaemin’s words. “ _when_ i come over again? confident, aren’t we, na?” he sounds smug, but his heart is still fluttering at the thought of jaemin wanting to invite him over again. 

a blush creeps up jaemin’s neck, but before he has the chance to retort, the backyard door slides open, interrupting them. chenle peeks his head out, fingers covering his eyes. “you guys better not be doing anything gross.” 

donghyuck splutters. “what the _fuck_ , lele,” jaemin hisses out, sounding scandalized. 

chenle removes his hands, rolling his eyes at jaemin. “don’t be such a prude, jaem. anyway, kun ge is calling you two for dinner.” with that, he heads back inside, not-so subtly yelling out, _they weren’t doing anything interesting!_ to the rest of jaemin’s housemates. 

“sorry about that,” jaemin says, sounding more murderous than apologetic. 

“chenle was right you know,” donghyuck steps towards the inside of the house. “you _are_ a prude.” donghyuck smirks at the way jaemin scowls at him. softly, he adds, “thank you, though. i’ll think about what you said.” and just as gingerly, he takes jaemin’s hand and squeezes it once, before getting back inside too quickly for jaemin to give any sort of reaction. 

dinner is an interesting affair, to say the least. 

donghyuck finds himself cushioned between yangyang and chenle, much to jaemin’s chagrin, who grumbles about donghyuck being _his_ friend. donghyuck fights the urge to laugh at him. 

“kun hyung, your cooking is literally sent from the gates of heavens,” donghyuck tells kun in between bites of his japchae. “i feel like jesus enjoying his last supper or something.” as much as donghyuck loves jeno to bits, cooking is definitely not his strong suit. he can’t remember the last time he ate something that wasn’t instant ramen. 

“thank you, donghyuck-ah. good to see that at least so _me_ people at this table were raised right,” kun beams at him. this causes uproar from the rest of the table. yangyang stands up immediately, offense written clearly on his face, “i wish to be excluded from this narrative!” 

“when was the last time you did any chores?” kun counters, eyebrow raised. yukhei and kunhang snicker at yangyang who struggles to reply. 

“in my defence, you banned me from the kitchen after the washing machine incident!” yangyang huffs. 

“washing machine incident?” donghyuck asks, curiosity piqued. 

“long story,” dejun deadpans, grimacing at the memory. donghyuck meets jaemin’s eyes who mouths, i _’ll_ _tell you later._

the conversation comes naturally after that, donghyuck hearing about all sorts of shenanigans the housemates get into, typically at the expense of kun.

donghyuck clicks with jaemin’s friends rather well, even yukhei, despite the still-awkward atmosphere between them. he realises that he wouldn’t mind hanging out with them some other time and jaemin’s right – he has to clear out whatever it is he has with yukhei. 

donghyuck internally grimaces at the thought but reminds himself that yukhei isn’t _that_ bad – he's more or less a pretty decent guy, as far as friends with benefits went. were they even friends? 

so, when they’re all done with dinner and kunhang is getting the alcohol from the kitchen, donghyuck takes this opportunity to corner yukhei. well, donghyuck definitely isn’t _cornering_ him, considering how wong yukhei was at least a head taller than him, but he’ll let it slide. 

“uh yukhei?” donghyuck says awkwardly, interrupting him from what he presumes is a conversation with dejun and jaemin. “could we like, talk?” 

yukhei looks startled and slightly confused, but he regains his composure because his expression changes to a small, albeit a little nervous, smile. “yeah, sure man.” donghyuck follows yukhei out into the hallway, but before he leaves the room, he catches jaemin shooting him an encouraging smile. 

in the hallway, when it’s just yukhei and him, donghyuck suddenly feels like running away again. yukhei’s looking at him expectedly and donghyuck honestly has no idea how to start. 

“what are we?” donghyuck asks all of a sudden, gnawing on his bottom lip. the silence is a little too unbearable. 

yukhei blinks at him, “what do you want us to be?” 

“friends? maybe?” he suggests. then he quickly adds, “you’re not into me, right?” 

“no! like, you’re cute, but in a bro way.” 

surprisingly, donghyuck starts laughing. “dude, i’ve seen you naked enough times to know what you dick looks like and you just _bro-zone_ _d_ me?” donghyuck asks, disbelieving. 

yukhei flushes a dark red. “you’re not mad, are you?” 

donghyuck lets a smile spread across his lips, eyes bright. “i’m delighted. because, i totally feel the same.” 

yukhei’s smile mirrors his own. “so, friends?” 

“yeah, friends.” after he says that, donghyuck feels his own shoulders visibly relax as he exhales. “god, you do not know how long i’ve been wanting to do that. no offence, but you’re literally everywhere on campus and avoiding you is one hell of a task.” 

yukhei feigns mock offense. “you think _you_ had it worse? i had no idea why you were avoiding me like the plague, so i thought you were mad at me for something. not gonna lie, every time i saw you or jeno on campus i felt like you guys were gonna come up to me to beat my ass. you’re quite intimidating, hyuck.” 

“well, i guess we have jaemin to thank. if he hadn’t convinced me, i’d probably still refuse to make any direct eye contact with you,” donghyuck admits, thinking back to what jaemin had told him earlier. 

something flashes in yukhei’s eyes and his voice is fond when he says, “he's good for you.” 

donghyuck lets out a strangled sort of sound. “what?” he asks, voice strained. 

yukhei only shakes his head lightly, walking back into the living room without another word. 

the end of the night comes quickly after and donghyuck decides that it’s late enough to head home. he thinks that he rather likes all of jaemin’s housemates, and they like him enough to add him to a group chat called _yangyang_ _and non-_ _yangyangs_ (donghyuck thinks he has an idea as to who made it that), the groupchat already blowing up with plans to meet up again. 

“you better come over some time,” chenle tells him at the door, pouting. donghyuck coos at him. “can we trade jaemin for you? i’m sure jeno wouldn’t mind.” jaemin lets out an offended gasp while yangyang says, “just take jaemin with you, he’s free of charge!” 

“fuck you guys, too,” jaemin grumbles, folding his arms across his chest. 

donghyuck lets out a laugh and promises to come over some time. “i don’t think jeno will appreciate a surprise roommate, but i’m honoured to know that i had a chance to be a part of your frat,” he tells yangyang. 

“frat?” yangyang asks, confused. the others look slightly puzzled except for jaemin who widens his eyes. 

“jaemin said you guys are all part of a fraternity?” donghyuck clarifies. 

“we’re not part of a frat, though-” yangyang’s words get cut off by dejun who clamps a hand over his mouth. “sorry, he’s drunk. and yeah, we’re called um-” 

“sigma kappa kappa,” kunhang says at the same time yukhei answers, “beta tau gamma.” 

dejun lets out a nervous laugh. “we’re still working on the name, haha.” kun sighs audibly at the entire exchange. 

donghyuck still thinks it’s a little weird but decides to let it go. everyone goes back inside after bidding donghyuck goodbye, leaving just him and jaemin. he’s still wearing donghyuck’s sweater and donghyuck thinks that it’s unfair how well jaemin manages to pull it off. 

“come on,” jaemin tells him, “i’ll walk you home.” 

“jaem, you don’t have to,” donghyuck tries to say but jaemin interrupts him. “well, i want to, so let’s go.” 

donghyuck knows fighting with jaemin would prove to be a lost cause so he lets it go, a smile threatening to spread on his lips. 

“wanna go get ice cream?” jaemin suggests, his tone hopeful. donghyuck can’t find it within himself to say no. 

“i knew it, you only wanted me to go get ice cream with you, didn’t you?” mirth shines in donghyuck’s eyes as jaemin sighs and says, “i’ve been exposed.” 

“are you a trust fund baby?” donghyuck asks him as they walk to the convenience store. somewhere along way, jaemin’s pinkie had intertwined with his and donghyuck doesn’t really find himself minding. 

“what?” 

“your place is like, huge,” donghyuck explains, “no college kid can afford that, unless it’s just jeno and i who are piss poor and everyone else is living the life.” 

jaemin lets out an understanding _aah_. “nah, that’s just chenle. his family is like _rich_ rich, did you know chenle bought the place because he didn’t know what rent was? anyway, the rest of us just got lucky.” 

“well, you’re lucky enough to be blessed with my amazing presence,” donghyuck tells him, earning a snort from jaemin. “also, i’m charging you for my company. the price is exactly one lemon popsicle.” 

jaemin scrunches up his nose in distaste. “lemon? hyuck that’s by the far the _worst_ popsicle flavour. no way i’m letting you spend my money on that atrocity.” 

“i’ll let your god awful taste in coffee slide, but now you’re slandering lemon popsicles? all the americanos have colonised your taste buds, na.” 

despite all his complaining, jaemin ends up buying him a lemon popsicle anyway. jaemin insists it’s because he would drive him insane with all his whining if he didn’t but donghyuck knows better, seeing the way jaemin tries to hide his smile behind his strawberry ice cream. 

“i had fun,” donghyuck tells him earnestly, “your housemates are all really cool.” 

“even cooler than me?” jaemin teases. 

donghyuck lets out a short bark of laughter. “duh.” 

“i’m wounded, lee. i invite you to my place and give you free food and _this_ is how you return the favour?” jaemin sighs, shaking his head. donghyuck pinches his arm, making him yelp in surprise. 

“shut up, na. you didn’t even make any of the food, that was all kun hyung. you’d think that someone with an ego as big as yours would have something to be so proud of but..” donghyuck trails off, snickering at the scowl that spreads on jaemin’s lips. 

(the fluttery feeling in donghyuck’s chest returns again, in full force and he wonders if he’s finally having a serious case of heartburn. jeno did always tell him that it was bound to happen with the sheer amount of instant ramen he eats.) 

donghyuck finishes his popsicle before jaemin finishes his ice cream. _fuck off, lee. you had your popsicle so let me enjoy my strawberry ice cream in peace,_ is what jaemin grumbles at him when donghyuck uses the best puppy-eyes he can muster. 

(it doesn’t even take him five minutes for jaemin to give in. 

“i’m saving you from an untimely demise from eating too much sugar,” is the excuse donghyuck gives him, gleefully accepting the cone of ice cream from jaemin who hands it over begrudgingly. 

jaemin calls bullshit.) 

donghyuck finds himself so caught up with bickering and bantering with jaemin that he almost doesn’t realise how they’ve reached his apartment complex. “well, this is me,” donghyuck says, looking up at jaemin. 

“i guess i’ll see y-” 

donghyuck cuts jaemin off by pulling him into a bone-crushing hug that surprises himself as well. jaemin stiffens and donghyuck worries that maybe he’s done something wrong but soon he relaxes, hugging him back just as warmly. when the pull apart, jaemin’s beaming at him and donghyuck feels the heat creeping up on his neck. 

“what was that for?” jaemin asks, the smile never dropping from his face. something about the way jaemin says it makes it sound like he knows exactly why. donghyuck doesn’t know why that makes him so nervous. 

there’s about a million things that are lying on the tip of donghyuck’s tongue, some of which that he has yet to unpack himself. “just. to say thank you, for everything.” is what he settles for instead, choosing to ignore everything that’s flurrying in his mind.

“goodnight, na,” he says gently. 

“goodnight, lee,” jaemin replies, just as soft, watching donghyuck head inside, a dopey smile spreading on his lips. 

what jaemin doesn’t see is how donghyuck runs up six flights of straights before spamming the doorbell, revealing a half-awake jeno in his pajamas, dark hair disheveled. “hyuck?” jeno’s voice is raspy and donghyuck almost feels bad for waking him up. 

then donghyuck realises that he is in a _crisis_ and he’s sat through too many late nights with jeno crying into his shoulder about how _mark is so cute_ _i_ _want to date him so_ _baaad_ _hyuck_ to feel bad about what he’s doing now. “i had a revelation,” he announces, voice serious. 

jeno furrows his brows, moving aside to let donghyuck in. “what is it,” jeno asks in deadpan. 

donghyuck flops onto the couch, face first. “i think i like jaemin,” donghyuck says, voice coming out too muffled for jeno to catch. 

“huh?” 

donghyuck lifts his face up and lets out a strangled groan. “jen, i think i like jaemin. like i’m not even kidding.” he looks at jeno to catch his reaction. safe to say, jeno doesn’t deliver. 

“okay, good for you,” jeno tells him, nonchalant. donghyuck makes an affronted noise. 

“why aren’t you reacting? jen, i just told you i like na jaemin. the _enemy_! what happened to OEJN?” 

“am i supposed to be surprised.” in a softer tone, jeno adds, “hyuck, dude, i love you, but you’re literally the last person to figure this out. also, like, where’s your sweater? i’m pretty sure you wore it when you went out.” 

“oh my god,” donghyuck says, “he has my sweater hostage.” 

a smug grin finds its way on jeno’s face. “oh ho ho, you gave jaemin your favourite sweater? you’ve got it _bad_ , lee donghyuck.” 

from his position on the couch, donghyuck attempts to kick jeno in the knee. much to his dismay, jeno dodges his flailing leg easily. “at least now i won’t have to listen to you unknowingly pine for jaemin, claiming whatever you two have is totally platonic,” jeno says, doing air quotes at _totally platonic_. 

“i fucking hate my life,” donghyuck whines out. 

jeno cackles at his misery. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

life after the Revelation goes on like this: 

a) 

now, whenever donghyuck leaves the apartment to go for a coffee run with jaemin, jeno gives him _that_ look and even makes it a point to clown him twice as hard for it. 

“where are you sneaking off to, lover boy?” jeno asks him one night, pausing whatever drama he was marathoning to give his full attention to a scowling donghyuck. even renjun who came over earlier for a movie night looks over from the tv screen, a curious glint in his eyes. 

“screw off, jeno lee,” donghyuck hisses at him. he tries his best to be quicker in finding his shoes, wanting nothing more than to leave as soon as possible. 

“where’s hyuck going?” renjun asks. jeno opens his mouth to reply but donghyuck cuts him off before his idiot roommate can say anything worse. 

“i’m going out to grab a _friendly_ lunch with my good _friend_ , jaemin, as two normal people being _friends._ ” donghyuck replies, intentionally placing the emphasis on the word _friend._ that earns a snort from renjun who tries his best to bite back a smile. he fails miserably. 

“what?” donghyuck narrows his eyes at him, knowing the kind of menace huang renjun can be. 

“no, it’s just that you’re going for a friendly lunch with jaemin like how jeno and mark used to go on their ‘non-dates’. seriously hyuck, you can’t be _that_ dense. it’s okay when jeno and mark do it because they’re jeno and mark – but i expected better from you.” renjun’s quip causes jeno to laugh at donghyuck before he realises that it was a jab at him too. “wait, wha-” 

donghyuck leaves the apartment in a hurry before jeno finishes his sentence, wondering what he ever did to deserve this kind of torture. 

b)

“you still have my sweater hostage, you know,” donghyuck tells jaemin between sips of his boba as they walk back to his apartment after their lectures finished that morning. 

“do i?” jaemin hums in response, not looking up from his phone. 

donghyuck frowns. he’s been doing that a lot lately – staying weirdly standoffish any mention of the sweater he lent him from that night. donghyuck doesn’t mind his favourite being practically robbed as much as he minds jaemin just being so _weird_ about it. 

naturally, the first thing that comes into mind is that jaemin could have potentially ruined it somehow and now is avoiding the blame by pretending he isn’t aware of the sweater’s existence in the first place. the thought of something happening to donghyuck’s beloved cashmere sweater causes him some form of pain, but he’ll live. 

what he doesn’t understand, however, is how jaemin could have ruined it in the first place. jaemin certainly didn’t drop any ice cream on in, donghyuck was there with him, and even if he did, it wouldn’t be too difficult to get it dry cleaned. 

there’s only one way jaemin could have ruined it to the extent of denying its existence, and that’s if jaemin was a werewolf. 

okay, perhaps that might be quite the reach, but the more donghyuck thinks about it, the more sense it makes. if jaemin were a werewolf, maybe when donghyuck went back inside, the clouds parted to reveal a full moon thus causing jaemin to transform into a wolf and as a result absolutely rip apart his sweater. 

just as donghyuck has his eureka moment, he’s snapped back into reality by jaemin who elbows him lightly. “helloo, earth to donghyuck,” he says, causing donghyuck to blink up at him. jaemin raises a brow at him, the corner of his mouth tugging up to reveal pearly whites. 

now that donghyuck pays attention to it, jaemin’s canines _are_ a little sharp – just like how a hypothetical werewolf’s would be like, his mind helpfully supplies. 

“remember when i first came over to your place? was there a full moon that night?” donghyuck asks all of a sudden. 

“no, i don’t think so. why do you ask?” 

donghyuck shrugs, internally thinking that there’s no way jaemin would have told him the truth anyway. it would be a dead giveaway. either way, he’ll note this down for future reference. “i’ve been getting into astrology lately and i heard that full moons symbolise the beginning of mercury in gatorade.” 

“in retrograde,” jaemin corrects him. 

“huh?” 

“it’s mercury in retrograde.” 

“oh, yeah, that. whatever.” jaemin gives him a funny sort of look but doesn’t press further. donghyuck thinks the whole situation is oddly suspicious, reminding himself to tell jeno later. 

c) 

jaemin and donghyuck are walking back to their places after jaemin’s lecture, and donghyuck having met up with his professor earlier to get back an assignment. meeting jaemin on campus happened to be purely coincidental. well, maybe donghyuck _did_ know that jaemin had a lecture at that timing, and maybe he did take the route nearer to the psychology department, but it’s not like jaemin knows that, and he intends to keep it that way. 

it’s drizzling and donghyuck, being himself, didn’t bring an umbrella, forcing him to share jaemin’s. he protests at first, saying how it’s barely raining and that he’ll be _fine_ , but jaemin refuses to comply, insisting that donghyuck would probably get sick which will then get jeno sick. donghyuck is aware there is some flawed logic there, but he doesn’t want to risk it, knowing jeno has a showcase in a week. 

whatever, it’s not like donghyuck’s complaining so he goes along with it. along the way, they began holding hands at one point and donghyuck isn’t sure who reached out first, but he knows that neither of them quite want to let go. 

well, he certainly doesn’t. donghyuck isn’t one for clichés (who is hekidding, donghyuck _loves_ clichés), it almost feels like jaemin’s hand fits perfectly with his. even though donghyuck is pretty sure the front of his backpack is getting wet because of the rain, he doesn’t find himself minding as much as he thought he would. 

neither of them talk for a while, the light pitter patter of the rain filling in the silence between. it’s serene, in some way, and it’s fleeting moments like these which causes a dangerous little thing called hope to flicker in his heart. 

he wants to tell himself that this _has_ to mean something – well, donghyuck is pretty sure people don’t just hold hands or lock pinkies in a _no homo_ way and he wants to let himself believe that jaemin feels the same, but then donghyuck wonders if that’s just him projecting which opens up a whole new can of worms - 

\- and somewhere along his internal monologue, donghyuck kind of forgets about his surroundings. he doesn’t notice the large puddle on the road right beside the sidewalk, and he definitely doesn’t notice the car that’s going to drive over the puddle, effectively getting dirty puddle water everywhere. 

jaemin, however, sees it coming. without warning, he places his hand on the back of donghyuck’s neck, and pulls him into a sudden embrace. the umbrella he was holding falls to the side and donghyuck would say something but he feels himself freeze in jaemin’s arms. 

donghyuck hears the water splash rather loudly against jaemin’s coat and the moment passes quickly enough as jaemin lets donghyuck go, as if he didn’t just practically re-enact the most overused scene in kdramas. 

“what was that?” donghyuck asks, voice higher than usual. 

jaemin glances at donghyuck, a smug smile on his lips, and shrugs. “if you got drenched it would beat the whole point of sharing an umbrella.” 

“you’re ridiculous,” donghyuck replies, “do you think you’re starring in a drama, na?” 

jaemin picks up the umbrella and holds it above their heads once again. “five months and you still don’t know how to say thank you. a shame lee, truly,” he teases and donghyuck realises that it really has been about half a year since he met jaemin and woah, that’s trippy as fuck. 

“it’s really been five months?” donghyuck asks, “wow. it really feels like i saw your dumb pink hair just yesterday.” 

“well, it’s been really nice knowing you,” jaemin tells him earnestly, and donghyuck genuinely feels touched but then jaemin _has_ to add, “i think we should stop seeing each other now.” 

“way to kill the moment,” donghyuck hisses, jabbing his sides. jaemin lets out a yelp, flinching to the side. donghyuck laughs at him, ignoring the way his heart swells just a little bit when jaemin beams at him. 

d) 

in terms of feelings, donghyuck thinks that he’s doing a pretty great job at pretending like his doesn’t exist, especially around jaemin. jeno thinks donghyuck is lying. donghyuck thinks jeno should learn how to shut up sometimes. 

sure, his heart still does spins whenever jaemin smiles at him, or laughs, or generally does anything in that annoyingly charming way of his, but donghyuck convinces that it’s nothing but a stupid little crush. it’s not like anyone outside jeno, renjun and maybe mark will ever know. 

that false sense of security only lasts for about three weeks. 

“so when are you gonna ask jaemin out?” yangyang asks him out of the blue one day when the two of them, dejun and kunhang are out for brunch. 

immediately, donghyuck chokes on the burrito he was eating, coughing violently, causing dejun to widen his eyes in concern and pat donghyuck’s back to ease the coughing. kunhang doesn’t seem particularly surprised at what yangyang says. 

after donghyuck recovers from the initial shock, he splutters, “you guys _knew?_ ” 

kunhang shoots him almost an apologetic sort of smile. “hyuck, you’re not exactly subtle.” funny, jeno told him the same thing. 

“does jaemin know?” donghyuck asks a little wearily. 

“no,” the three of them chorus at the same time, causing donghyuck to release a sigh of relief. “jaem is literally the biggest headass ever. he thinks he’s so clever but actually he’s as clueless as you,” yangyang tells him, a shit-eating grin on his face. 

“what do you mean, clueless as me?” donghyuck asks, puzzled. he feels like there’s something the three of them know that he doesn’t. 

yangyang opens his mouth to say something but kunhang cuts him off. “sorry, hyuck, that’s a secret between the brothers of sigma kappa kappa.” 

donghyuck raises a brow at them but decides to let it slide. so much for keeping his feelings in check, donghyuck thinks, then realises that he doesn’t quite mind as long as nobody except his heart knows how he doesn’t quite mind how his heart rate picks up the moment jaemin does as much as smile at him, the same dazzling smile that leaves him feeling a little more than starstruck. 

that’s _his_ little secret to keep. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

lee donghyuck’s list of things that na jaemin could potentially be: 

**vampire**

\- seemingly perfect skin?? (note: if he’s not a vampire ask him for his daily skincare routine) 

\- literally glitters under street lights (perhaps a cousin species to whatever type of vampire Edward Cullen is) 

\- consumes nothing but caffeine > lives off caffeine instead of blood?? 

\- has kinda fang-like teeth 

**werewolf**

\- refer to the Sweater Dilemma discussed earlier 

\- somehow knows when full moons are due? highly suspicious 

\- looks good with messy and tousled hair 

\- perhaps the ‘fangs’ could instead be sharp canine teeth (ask jeno abt probability of that) 

**mermaid**

\- technically never seen jaemin near water,, pretty sus 

\- test it out by “accidentally” pouring a cup of water on him 

\- would pull off a tail really well (objectively speaking of course) 

**chaebol** ****

\- v mysterious and dodgy when talking about his past + family >> typical chaebol family drama ? 

\- lives in a conveniently huge house that “chenle”’s “grandfather” “owns” 

~~\- hyuck why are you so jobless istg~~

\- (note: if jaemin turns out to be a chaebol get him to bribe the the landlady into kicking jeno out) 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

perhaps the irony of it all is how when donghyuck _does_ end up figuring up What Is Up with jaemin is that the truth isn’t as crazy as the other possibilities he coined down in his list. well, maybe little crazier than being a chaebol, but definitely not as crazy as him being a vampire, mermaid or a werewolf. regardless, donghyuck passes out anyway. 

it starts off like this: 

donghyuck finds himself standing outside of jaemin’s place. jaemin texted in the group chat earlier that he’ll miss this week’s biweekly movie night with the rest of his housemates and donghyuck, because of some last minute lab report he has to get done. donghyuck already had bought the snacks so he thought that he’d turn up either way, with or without jaemin. 

donghyuck lets himself in, already knowing the keycode to their place at this point. inside, he takes off his shoes quiet enough not to create a ruckus. when he walks into the living room, he expects to see the rest of jaemin’s housemates already there, maybe a couple of them in the kitchen. 

what donghyuck _doesn’t_ expect to see is yangyang levitating in mid-air while kunhang flings a book at his head that he just narrowly dodges. the rest of them aren’t even paying attention to the two, eyes focused on the tv screen instead. chenle even lets out a yawn. 

donghyuck thinks he’s finally gone crazy. 

he rubs at his eyes but the scene ahead of him remains the same. everybody is acting as if this is perfectly normal. yangyang manages to spot to donghyuck because his eyes widen immediately and he stutters out, “donghyuck, h-hey!” 

suddenly, five pairs of eyes are on him, all varying degrees of shocked. donghyuck feels a little lightheaded. faintly, he hears the bag of snacks he brought dropping to the ground with a soft thud. 

“surprise..?” 

“we’re witches!” yangyang exclaims, his smile strained. 

“um, try not to freak out?” chenle lets out a string of nervous laughter. 

“okay,” is what donghyuck says before he conveniently passes out. 

when donghyuck feels himself regain consciousness, his eyes are still closed and he can vaguely make out voices around him. he wonders if this is all an elaborate dream planted by jeno to finally get him to stop being so dramatic all the fucking time. if so, donghyuck thinks maybe it backfired because he feels compelled to be even more dramatic than usual. 

“do you think he’s dead?” asks a voice that sounds a lot like chenle. 

“lele, please stop talking.” definitely dejun. 

“jaem will fucking kill us if he finds out we gave his lover boy a concussion.” 

the mention of jaemin causes something to snap inside of him because donghyuck immediately opens his eyes, getting up abruptly, startling everyone around him. that proves to be a terrible decision because he immediately feels a migraine working its way into his head. 

“you’re awake,” dejun lets out a sigh of relief. “are you feeling okay? kun ge was stressing the hell out when he called him. he says he’s on the way, by the way.” 

donghyuck ignores him completely. “uh, was yangyang floating or did i dream up the whole thing?” 

kunhang sighs. with a swift flick of his wrist, yangyang lets out a yelp and there it is – he's levitating again. yukhei rolls his eyes at them as if this isn’t his first time seeing something like this happen and donghyuck wants to laugh at the incredulity of the whole ordeal. 

out of all of the things that donghyuck half-jokingly came up with, being a witch or wizard or _whatever the fuck_ was definitely not what he expected. it’s kind of funny how bizarre the entire situation is because it’s exactly what donghyuck’s been so desperately been digging for and now that he has the evidence right _here_ , donghyuck kind of doesn’t believe it. 

he lets out a delirious giggle before lying back onto the sofa, much to the concern of everyone else. “this is crazy,” donghyuck mumbles, delirious. “i’m going crazy.” 

“i think we broke him,” yukhei says. 

thankfully, kun arrives home then and takes a look at the scene in front of him – yangyang still floating about, donghyuck lying on the couch, face unsettlingly calm – and lets out a guttural groan. 

“hey kun hyung,” donghyuck greets him, “you’re in this dream too?” 

“what did you guys _do_ ,” kun demands, glancing wearily at donghyuck. he makes it a point to glare at yangyang who lets out an offended sort of noise. 

“why do you assume it has something to do with me!” he complains. kun raises a brow at him and yangyang relents. “ _fine_. but kunhang was involved too!” 

“we were just fucking around–” kunhang injects quickly before kun can say anything, “i didn’t know donghyuck would come in right then!” 

to calm him down, dejun brews him a warm of tea except it’s not tea, it’s actually a ‘draught of peace’ which donghyuck refuses to drink until yukhei reassures him that it’s perfectly fine for a human to drink. “it’s not as good as the one jaemin makes, but it’ll help,” dejun tells him warmly as donghyuck takes a tentative sip. 

(after the first sip, which to be honest, barely counted as a sip, donghyuck realises that dejun’s tea is surprisingly amazing. “what did you put in this? it’s delicious,” donghyuck commends, already feelings his shoulders relaxing. 

dejun opens one of the kitchen cabinets and takes out a jar of what appears to be eyeballs. wait a second – donghyuck has seen that jar before, he just never thought that it would actually be - 

“usually we use a toad eye, but i added in two for your brew. you did look pretty stressed, hyuck.” 

“those are actual toad eyes? i saw the jar of them the other week when i was looking for sugar!” donghyuck wonders if everyone practicing witchcraft has always been this obvious, and it’s just that he’s really fucking dense. 

dejun snorts at the look of disbelief on his face. “i mean, yeah? what else did you think they were?” 

“i thought they were exotic herbs or something! i didn’t wanna be rude,” donghyuck complains, growing redder when dejun laughs good-naturedly at him.) 

in short, once donghyuck recovers from his initial state of shock, kun gives him The Talk – except it’s not the one about the birds and the bees, instead more of a crash course in magic. 

(“so did you guys go to hogwarts?” 

“dude, hogwarts is like the whitest fucking magic school in existence,” yangyang tells him, unimpressed. “pretty sure five asian guys wouldn’t even get an acceptance letter.” 

“five?” donghyuck asks, confused. does that mean jaemin isn’t– 

“i’m the odd one out,” yukhei explains. “a hundred percent human and two hundred percent regretting housing with these people.”) 

“honestly i’m surprised you never realised earlier,” chenle admits as donghyuck looks through a deck of tarot cards that dejun showed him. they’re all sitting on the floor in the living room, chenle and yangyang are playing super smash brothers while donghyuck is practically enamoured with all of the cool trinkets dejun is showing him. “we weren’t exactly subtle.” 

donghyuck huffs at that. “look, subtlety obviously isn’t one of my strong points. anyway, it’s so unfair you guys get to experience all this cool shit. being a human is so _boring_.” yukhei lets out an offended gasp, “ _hey_ , being a human is cool too!” 

“shut up, mortal,” yangyang quips, earning a middle finger from yukhei. 

“does this mean you’ll finally tell jaemin you like him?” chenle asks, sounding way too hopeful. “i mean the cat’s out of the bag, so you should confess!” 

donghyuck chokes on air. “ _confess?_ ” 

chenle appears unfazed. “well, duh. we all know you have a big, gay cr-” 

“okay!” donghyuck cuts him off, voice shrill. “nobody is confessing anytime soon. besides, it’s not like i’m telling jaemin i know.” 

that statement proves to cause some sort of controversy because even kun looks up from the book he was reading to give donghyuck a look. “you’re not gonna tell jaemin you know?” kunhang asks, raising a brow. “does that mean we have to continue pretending we’re some frat that doesn’t casually practice witchcraft? bro, that shit was exhausting.” 

donghyuck shoots kunhang a glare. “you’ll only have to pretend i don’t know when jaemin isn’t around. i think i’m already getting used to this witchy stuff-” he’s cut off by chenle who accidentally explodes his coffee mug, effectively startling donghyuck _and_ getting coffee everywhere. 

“ _chenle_ ,” yangyang, who was sitting right next to him and has his right sleeve stained by coffee, hand still clutching the controller that narrowly avoided getting splashed by coffee, complains, “you are totally going to clean that up.” 

as chenle begrudgingly gets up, donghyuck leans closer to yukhei and asks, “what was that about?” 

“the coffee going everywhere?” he asks. donghyuck nods. “that’s a witch thing, like, especially for younger witches, it happens when their feelings go haywire. in this case, chenle lost another round of super smash bros. it’s pretty normal.” 

“xuxi ge i don’t know what you’re saying but i’m getting vibes that you’re shit talking me!” chenle yells from the kitchen. 

“less yelling, more cleaning!” yangyang shouts back. the rest of them are proceeding on with whatever they were doing as if nothing happened. donghyuck realises, witches or not, they’re still all the same. a smile tugs at the corner of his lips as he looks through some more of dejun’s tarot cards, letting out soft _ooh_ ’s and _aah_ ’s every time he learns something interesting. 

almost nothing really changes, and donghyuck presumes maybe that’s the real irony of it all. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

surprisingly, it’s renjun that sets everything into motion. 

he’s out with renjun, the two of them agreeing to meet up for gongcha. typically, jeno would have tagged along, but he’s on a date with mark and jaemin is out of campus for the weekend for some emergency family matter (donghyuck knows it’s actually because jaemin and his housemates have some witch coven thing on, chenle having told him two weeks ago). thus, he’s basically left with no other person to hang out with. 

when he tells renjun as such, renjun tuts at him. “i’m your last option? that hurts, hyuck.” 

donghyuck rolls his eyes at him, and takes another sip of his boba in lieu of a proper response. 

renjun goes on to add, “well, i mean i don’t really mind that much. i wouldn’t expect you to prioritize the object of your affections over old, boring renjun anyway.” 

“ignoring how you basically objectified jaemin, and also called yourself old and boring, to which i agree, i can’t believe you have the gall to say that when i literally see you three times a week in class,” donghyuck tells him, exasperated. 

“and? you see jaemin every other day,” renjun counters, much to donghyuck’s annoyance. 

“i do _not_. and i see jeno every day so what’s your point? why are you so bothered about how often i see jaemin anyway? jeno’s supposed to be the annoying one,” donghyuck complains. 

renjun smiles innocently at him which tells donghyuck that whatever he’s going to say next will be anything but. to be honest, the first time donghyuck met renjun, all the way back in his first year of college, he thought that huang renjun would be an actual angel with his warm smile and gentle voice. it took him about a month to realise that he’s actually evil enough to make the devil cry. _talk about subverting expectations_ , donghyuck thought back then, seeing how even jeno was a little bit afraid of him. 

renjun lets out a soft hum. “ah, well i thought that figuring out jaemin’s little secret would have given you that little bit of extra courage to fess up. guess not.” then, in typical renjun fashion, he continues drinking his bubble tea as if he hasn’t just shifted donghyuck’s axis once again with one goddamn sentence. 

“you _know?_ ”donghyuck gapes at him. renjun shoots him an unimpressed look. 

“not everyone is as unobservant as you, hyuckie,” renjun tells him simply. “of course i know jaemin and his friends are witches. i’m offended you assumed otherwise.” 

“unobservant?” donghyuck parrots, feeling his face heat up. “i’m plenty observant!” perhaps he said that last bit a little too loud because renjun pinches his arm and tells him to keep it down. 

“maybe unobservant isn’t the word..” renjun trails off before snapping his fingers and adding, “that’s right, you’re just _distracted_. you don’t really pay attention to your surroundings.” 

donghyuck opens his mouth to argue but renjun knows him too well and cuts him off before he even has the chance. “apart from witches, did jaemin’s friends tell you about the existence of any other non-human beings?” 

“uh, kind of? they said vampires and werewolves are real, but i don’t really believe them. hell, it’s hard to even believe that there are witches that just, out here existing, you know?” donghyuck explains. “how did you not freak out when you first found out?” 

something flashes in renjun’s eyes, too fast for donghyuck to catch on. if he’s not mistaken, it looked a little bit like a glint of mischief. 

“hyuck, do you think there are people _you_ know that might not be human?” renjun asks him, completely ignoring his previous question. donghyuck’s too used to this kind of behaviour from renjun to feel offended. 

donghyuck remains silent for a moment to really think about what renjun said. he really can’t see any of his friends actually turning out to be a werewolf or something, but then again, it’s not like he foresaw jaemin being a witch, either. donghyuck shrugs in response. 

“i can’t think of anyone, i mean, maybe it’s cause jaemin is sort of a newer friend? i’d know if it were one of you guys for sure,” donghyuck tells him, feeling confident in his answer. renjun actually full on laughs at him, causing donghyuck to raise a brow. what’s so funny? 

renjun calms himself down before looking directly into his eyes and tugging down the collar of his turtleneck. donghyuck isn’t exactly sure what renjun wants to show him until he bares the side of his neck, exposing milky white skin and two fully healed puncture marks. 

donghyuck blinks and allows for his brain to fully comprehend what exactly he’s looking at until it all clicks. renjun beams at him, realising that the other is perhaps understanding what he’s trying to convey.

donghyuck’s gaze falls to renjun’s teeth and _since when have they been so pointy.. and fang-like??_

“nope,” donghyuck says suddenly, getting up. “we are _not_ doing this inside of a gongcha outlet. fuck this shit, i swear.” 

renjun simply laughs at him once more, before tugging his wrists down with a surprising amount of force. _huh_ , donghyuck muses, _i_ _guess we are doing this_ _in a gongcha outlet_. 

“you’re a menace, huang renjun,” donghyuck hisses. 

“actually, i’m a vampire,” renjun admits, sly. “but close enough.” 

donghyuck feels a sense of deja vu wash over him as renjun explains to him about modern-day vampirism and what not, except that it takes far less time for him to feel normalized with the whole situation than before. turns out that vampire-renjun and pretending-to-be-human renjun are still the same person, and the revelation leaves donghyuck feeling relieved. 

“so do you drink human blood or..?” 

“i know what you’re thinking, and no, i’m not going to drink your blood anytime soon. if i wanted to, i guarantee that i would have done it by now,” renjun tells him, narrowing his eyes. “besides, vampires have evolved a lot since the days of draining humans dry. now, we only feed once a month on synthetic blood. lost our ability to be immortal and whatever, too.” 

when donghyuck doesn’t say anything, probably still thinking things through, renjun adds, “you can’t just assume that while humans evolved over time, us vampires still remained barbaric, that way of thinking is _so_ last century.” 

it takes donghyuck a moment to realise that renjun is just teasing him and when he does, he makes sure to pinch renjun’s sides extra hard, just for added precaution. “you fucking _asshole_ ,” donghyuck grits his teeth in annoyance, at the same time relieved that he hadn’t offended the other. 

“you don’t mind, do you?” renjun asks, all of a sudden and donghyuck’s taken aback with how soft he sounds. he almost sounds a little uncertain, like he’s nervous donghyuck would ever shun him away. renjun’s always been lacking in the brains department, donghyuck thinks to himself. 

“hey, you idiot,” donghyuck snaps at him, and renjun lets out a confused hum in the shift in tone. “you’re a bigger dummy than i thought if you actually think i’d be weirded out by this. fangs or not, you’re still my dumb best friend, so don’t go all sappy on me, okay?” 

just as quick as it arrived, the doubtful look in renjun’s eyes is dissolved into something similar to endearment as he raises his hands in mock surrender. “since when did you get so good at pep talks? has taeyong been giving you lessons?” 

donghyuck scoffs, and just like that, all feelings of tension lingering in the air is gone and he couldn’t be more grateful. he’s glad that renjun trusts him enough to tell him something like this, but it leaves him wondering if their other friends are aware of this as well. 

“does jeno know?” donghyuck asks. he guesses the answer is no, considering how jeno is almost as dense and oblivious as he is, and there is no way that he’d be able to piece together something like this before _he_ could. 

“duh,” is renjun’s response rendering donghyuck speechless. 

at his blatant look of bewilderment, renjun goes on to explain, “i’m pretty sure you know that witches can have their magic going haywire during puberty, right? same goes for vampires. and to remind you, jeno and i met a party in high school. i think we were both a little bit drunk.” 

when donghyuck _still_ doesn’t get it, he finishes, “it’s hard to pretend that you’re not a vampire when your fangs suddenly pop out during a make out session, don’t you think? either way, jeno almost pissed himself that night and it’s probably the funniest thing to ever happen to me.” 

“what the fuck?” donghyuck exclaims, realising that he really _is_ the last person to figure everything out. 

“it happens to the best of us, hyuckie,” renjun assures, the ghost of a smile never leaving his lips. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

after all of _that_ , that week probably being the most eventful week of the year, donghyuck starts to pay attention to the things around him. he realises when he’s strolling down the streets with renjun that that one particular cafe down the street is actually a potions shop, and how the local bar even has a hidden menu for vampires, with drinks consisting of several different types of synthetic blood. 

it’s all a bit much, but donghyuck grows used to it. nowadays, seeing dejun brewing a potion in the kitchen, or witnessing chenle accidentally turning yukhei purple becomes sort of the new normal whenever he comes by jaemin’s place. donghyuck is still immensely jealous that he can’t partake in witchcraft with the rest of them, but it’s still cool to actually be _in_ the loop for once, anyway. 

with the whole discovering-a-whole-different-world revelation makes donghyuck forget that he still has a massive crush on jaemin. originally, donghyuck thought that simply completing OEJN would bring him all the answers he’s been practically begging for – but he realises a little too late that in order to finish Operation: Expose Jaemin Na, he actually has to _confront_ said jaemin na. 

technically, it’s jeno who points this out, but whatever. 

“you were downright giddy to get to the bottom with your weird spy mission on jaemin, and you’re telling me the moment you get the information you’ve been sleuthing for, you want to b _ack out_?” jeno asks over breakfast, incredulous. 

donghyuck uses his fork to stab into his pancake, causing jeno to raise a brow at him. 

“you won’t _understand_ , jeno,” donghyuck whines through a large bite of pancake, “this is horrible, i wish i could go back to before i found out this whole witch shit. if i tell him that i know now, he’s gonna ask why i didn’t tell him earlier which would mean telling him that i have the hots for him which is a whole other can of worms i do _not_ want to open.” 

he hopes by telling his roommate this, it would earn some form of sympathy but jeno remains unimpressed. “you made me go through weeks of hearing your dumb plan, so if all of that pain and suffering on my side doesn’t even get you a boyfriend, i’ll kill you,” jeno warns him. 

“doyoung wouldn’t be pleased if his precious jeno got put on trial for murder.” 

“well, that wouldn’t happen if you stopped _pining_.” jeno gags at the last word, causing donghyuck to let out an affronted gasp. 

“pining?” donghyuck lets out a short bark of laughter. “i’m not pining after jaemin!” 

at jeno’s pointed look, donghyuck relents. “ _fine_ , you win. maybe i’m pining but i don’t wanna hear you complaining. i had to sit through the whole i’m-in-love-with-mark-lee phase you had since last year. this is deserved.” 

jeno rolls his eyes at him and donghyuck thinks he’s won this one until a smug smile spreads on jeno’s face. “what?” donghyuck asks, confused. 

jeno only shakes his head, his smile growing bigger. 

“what?” donghyuck asks again, growing irritated. 

“don’t you wanna know what happened to your sweater?” donghyuck’s eyes grow wide at the mention of his beloved sweater. he kind of forgot about it with the whole finding out magic is real thing, now that jeno brings it up again, donghyuck can’t hide his interest. 

“you know what happened to it?” there’s a hopeful lilt to his voice when he says that, hoping that it isn’t wishful thinking when he considers that nothing actually happened to it. 

“it caught on fire,” jeno tells him simply. donghyuck chokes on the piece of pancake that he was chewing, breaking into a coughing fit and raising concern from jeno who offers him a glass of water. 

donghyuck doesn’t want to believe jeno even for a second. it caught on _fire?_ how the fuck does that even happen? his huge crush on jaemin be damned, donghyuck decides, there’s no way na jaemin is going to ruin his most prized piece of clothing and get away with it. 

abruptly, donghyuck gets up, startling jeno who glances up at him wearily. “where are you going?” 

“to find jaemin,” donghyuck replies, searching for his coat. 

“wait, so you’re telling me all it took for you to actually grow a pair and face jaemin is finding out that he set your sweater on fire?” 

donghyuck shoots jeno an unimpressed look. “well, duh. i’ve exiled you from this apartment for doing _less_. i don’t care that jaemin’s practically perfect, no one gets away with that.” 

jeno rolls his eyes at donghyuck, but lets him do whatever he wants anyway, only yelling _good luck!_ to the other as the door slams behind him. 

surprisingly, donghyuck bumps into jaemin as he’s about to leave his place. jaemin startles at donghyuck’s sudden appearance, and asks, “hyuck? what are you doing here?” 

donghyuck looks up at jaemin and blinks. he’s wearing his reading glasses and donghyuck kind of hates himself for finding jaemin even _more_ pretty just because of a dumb pair of glasses. “uh, where were you heading to?” donghyuck replies, dodging the question instead. 

jaemin lets out a nervous laugh. “well, i kind of wanted to see you..?” 

donghyuck opens his mouth to reply but nothing comes out, the words dying at the tip of his tongue. jaemin wanted to see.. him? there’s about a million things that donghyuck immediately thinks about when jaemin tells him this, some a lot more nerve-wracking than others. 

at donghyuck’s lack of a response, jaemin adds, “could we talk about it inside? i’ll make some tea.” 

donghyuck thinks back to what dejun had told him before, how jaemin has a habit of adding calming draughts when he prepares beverages. “i’m good, but yeah. let’s talk.” 

the first thing that donghyuck realises as the pair walk to the living room is how awkward it is. it’s kind of weird because he remembers that the last time things were ever awkward between them was when they met up properly for the first time with jeno and mark. _fuck, has it been that long?_

“so..” jaemin trails off, eyes darting everywhere except at him. 

“so,” donghyuck echoes. jaemin clears his throat. 

“you know that sweater you let me borrow the first time you came around?” jaemin asks. out of habit, donghyuck has an urge to be sarcastic and reply, _no,_ _i_ _have absolutely no idea which sweater you’re talking even though_ _i’ve_ _been asking you about it for the past few_ _months_. fortunately, he decides against it. 

“yeah. what about it?” 

jaemin chews the inside of his cheek before letting out a sigh. “it caught on fire. it was an accident though! and mind you, i never intended for that to happen. i also tried knitting you a new one cause kun said that it would be more sincere than just paying for another, except it turned out really ugly. so i’d like to apologise and i totally get if you’re mad–” 

donghyucks cuts him off. “you knitted me a new one?” he sounds oddly choked up, and god damn it, he’s supposed to be pissed at _jaemin_ , so why is that idiot making _him_ feel bad? 

jaemin’s cheeks flush. “this is fucking embarrassing but yeah, i did. it’s really ugly, though.” 

“can i see it?” donghyuck asks, voice hopeful. jaemin looks conflicted, like he wants to protest but gives in anyway. 

jaemin steps aside to the kitchen island where there’s a lump of baby blue wool, which donghyuck realises is actually supposed to be a sweater, next to a pair of knitting needles. jaemin hands it to him, gingerly, almost like he’s afraid it’ll come apart. 

jaemin was right when he said it wasn’t exactly perfect by any means, one arm is longer than the other, and he’s fairly sure donghyuck could drown in it if he put it on. but then donghyuck imagines jaemin actually spending _time_ to knit this for him and he decides that he loves this sweater regardless. 

“i love it,” donghyuck says matter-of-factly, hugging the sweater close to him. it smells like jaemin – roasted coffee and a little bit of vanilla – and donghyuck thinks he likes it even more. 

“you - what?” jaemin gapes at him. 

“i said, i love the sweater and i’m going to keep it. so,” donghyuck trails off, eyes meeting jaemin’s. jaemin’s lips twitch upward, a certain fondness in his eyes that makes donghyuck look away, embarrassed. “thanks,” he finishes, eyes studying the floor. 

his heart is beating fast, probably loud enough for jaemin to hear, and donghyuck can only think that this seems like the perfect moment to tell jaemin, _hey,_ _i_ _know the secret you’ve been keeping from me._ to tell him, _i_ _like you and_ _i’m_ _pretty sure you like me too._ it’s scary, but donghyuck’s done being a coward. 

“i know what you are,” donghyuck breathes out, his voice barely above a whisper. 

jaemin’s gaze doesn’t leave his face as a smile starts to blossom across his lips. “yeah?” he replies, as soft as donghyuck. there’s a teasing lilt to it that causes a blush to creep up donghyuck’s neck. “say it. out loud.” 

donghyuck knows that jaemin is joking, that he’s just playing along, they’re quoting _Twilight_ for fuck’s sake, but there’s still a certain weight behind jaemin’s words, like he’s serious. like he knows everything that’s been racing around in donghyuck’s mind ever since they met in the library all those months ago. that memory feels distant to donghyuck, as if that jaemin he knew back then – a little standoffish, a little foreign – is starkly different to the one that’s staring right back at him, an unspoken challenge in his eyes. 

“you’re a witch,” donghyuck says, simply. 

the smile on jaemin’s lips stretches until he’s beaming at donghyuck, a twinkle in his eyes and donghyuck wonders how he hadn’t figured it all out earlier, how he couldn’t tell that this boy with his pretty eyes and pretty smile and pretty _everything_ was made of magic _._

how he didn’t notice the way glitter seems to cling onto every inch of his skin, making him glow even under the fluorescent light of his apartment. or perhaps in the way his calloused hands feel soft and warm when it’s intertwined with donghyuck’s, fitting perfectly in his like they’re never supposed to let go. or when jaemin stays up with him just to help donghyuck memorize all his flashcards even if he has work in the morning, the way he rubs at his eyes and insists he’s not tired, _just five more to go, hyuckie, you can do it_. maybe, maybe - it’s all of the above. 

whatever it is, the bottom line is that magic flows through jaemin’s veins with every beat of his heart and donghyuck might just be a little bit in love. 

“you’re so clever,” jaemin murmurs, fingers brushing softly against his cheek, following the moles that dot his face like constellations that map out the sky. his eyes, his voice, his touch – it's filled with nothing but fondness and donghyuck thinks that he’s a fool to have never noticed any of this. 

donghyuck has half the mind to disagree with jaemin and tell him all the reasons why he couldn’t be more wrong, but not now. he’ll have the time to all that later. now, all donghyuck does is angle his head up, until they’re inches apart – donghyuck can count all of jaemin’s lashes from here – and finally, _finally_ closes the distance between their lips. 

maybe he is clever, after all. 

the way jaemin kisses donghyuck is a lot like how jaemin carries himself, languid and softly, as if they have all the time in the world to do this - _this_ , being: the way jaemin licks into donghyuck’s mouth and all he can taste is the coffee donghyuck chastises him for drinking, the warmest feeling spreading all through donghyuck. this, being: the way donghyuck tangles his fingers in jaemin’s soft hair, it’s a light brown now, and donghyuck thinks he’s been wanting to thread through it ever since he saw jaemin with his stupid peach hair. this, being: how jaemin pulls donghyuck closer, his hand curling around the other’s waist like there’s nowhere else it belongs. 

_this_ , being: all of the above. 

when they finally break apart, gasping for air, donghyuck bumps their foreheads together, lightly. he can’t help the way his face flushes, seeing jaemin’s lips bitten red and swollen. can’t help the soft giggle that escapes his lips, a little delirious. he especially can’t help but confess, “i really, really, _really_ like you.” 

“i figured,” is all he says in reply and maybe jaemin can’t help himself either because the next thing he does is lean in once again. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

“how did you figure it out?” jaemin asks eventually. they’re both on jaemin’s bed and donghyuck sitting on his lap, threading his fingers through jaemin’s soft, _soft_ hair, and donghyuck thinks he can stay like this forever. 

“i mean, originally i thought you were a vampire,” donghyuck confesses, earning a snort from jaemin. donghyuck shoots a glare at the latter, mumbling, “don’t make me break up with you before we even get together,” rather effectively shutting jaemin up. 

“in my defense – remember that first night when we got coffee together? you kinda sparkled? like in my head it was like some edward from Twilight shit, so automatically my mind went to vampire. also, you’d look semi decent with a widow’s peak, so.” 

jaemin leans in to kiss donghyuck’s nose. “hyuckie, doesn’t edward sparkle under the sun?” 

donghyuck shrugs, “semantics.” 

“as much as i love seeing you outsell Sherlock with your detective skills, how did you really find out? did injun tell you? i mean, i was surprised that you finding kun’s potion stash when you came over that one time wasn’t a dead giveaway. then i realized how dense you could be.” jaemin smirks at him and donghyuck wonders what he did to have to put up with such an asshole. 

donghyuck punches jaemin in the arm and smiles at the grunt jaemin lets out. “no, renjun didn’t tell me and i’ll totally tell him you think he’s a little snitch. besides, i found out when i came over to your place and found yangyang levitating. i even passed out and everything.” 

jaemin chokes on his own spit. “ _what?_ ” 

donghyuck shrugs and continues, “it was totally wack. dejun hyung had to give me some calming draught and everything, it tasted surprisingly nice.” 

“you knew months ago but didn’t say anything?” 

donghyuck punches jaemin in the arm and smiles at the grunt jaemin lets out. “listen here, _na._ how was i supposed to think you and your frat bros – no wait, _warlock bros,_ practiced witchcraft in your spare time?? that’s not really a normal train of thought, you know. also, when were you going to tell me magic was real and huang fucking renjun was a vampire?” 

jaemin smiles at him sheepishly. “well, i didn’t want to freak you out? also, are you telling me if i told you, _hey_ _hyuckie_ _,_ _injun_ _is a vampire and magic is real,_ you’d believe me?” 

donghyuck has the decency to look a little guilty, but he whines, “but jeno knew before i did? how is that fair! at least i figured it out before mark, right?” 

donghyuck looks at jaemin expectedly, only for jaemin to shoot him an apologetic look. “uh, i’m pretty sure mark found out like a week after injun moved in with him. he has this horrible habit of leaving his blood tumblers around–” 

donghyuck doesn’t even let jaemin finish his sentence before he’s scrambling off the other’s lap, getting his phone from the table. jaemin lets out a confused hum, but donghyuck already has the phone on speaker and jaemin hears mark’s distinct voice coming from the receiver, tired and static-y, “hello, hyuck?” 

“mark lee you’re fucking dead to me–” donghyuck hisses, and jaemin lets out an endeared snort. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 

life for donghyuck with a witch boyfriend goes like this: 

a) 

“uh, why am i here?” taeyong asks, glancing around. 

“donghyuck’s staging an intervention,” yuta replies, not even looking up from his phone. “just take a seat. there’s booze on the kitchen counter.” 

to be fair, taeyong didn’t really know what to expect when he got a text from donghyung saying to come over for something ‘ _really_ _really_ _important_ _pleaaaseee_ _hyung_ ’, with a second text indicating an address he was pretty sure belonged to kun. whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t _this_. 

there are a bunch of familiar faces seated in a circle in kun’s living room. he’s pretty almost his entire close friend circle is here, along with a couple of people he’s seen around on campus. on the wall, there’s even a sign in donghyuck’s sloppy handwriting that reads, _INTERVENTION._

not knowing what else to say, taeyong takes the empty seat beside doyoung and jungwoo. before he even has the chance to exchange pleasantries or more appropriately, ask what the hell is going on, donghyuck clears his throat, effectively capturing everyone’s attention. 

“you guys are probably wondering why i gathered you all today,” donghyuck begins, expression serious. taeyong worries if it’s actually for something serious, he can’t remember the last time donghyuck had looked so serious – is everything okay? 

he overhears johnny whispering, “how much do you want to bet that hyuck is just being dramatic?” 

yuta’s reply comes in a deadpan: “i _know_ he’s being dramatic. i’m only here for the alcohol.” 

donghyuck lets out a deep exhale before continuing, “what i’m going to reveal to you all might shock you. it might even horrify you –” 

“just get on with it!” jeno complains, earning a glare from donghyuck. 

“okay, so. guys, i just want to tell you that magic and witchcraft is real. and there’s actual supernatural people sitting among us _right_ here in this room.” 

he’s met with a beat of silence and donghyuck looks almost a little smug, until – 

“thank god, i thought it was something serious,” taeyong finds himself saying, feeling himself visibly relax. this earns a hum of agreement from the others. 

donghyuck lets out a strangled sort of noise. “wait,” he says, immediately standing up, “you guys – as in, _all_ of you knew this?” out of the twenty other people here, taeyong thinks that donghyuck appears the most distressed compared to the rest. 

“well, duh. is that not just common knowledge?” ten asks, confused. 

jaemin lets out a groan. “babe, i _told_ you not to do this.” donghyuck ignores jaemin , instead splutters out, “ _how?_ and how did i not figure it out sooner??” 

“it was never intended to leave you of the loop, it just happened? we all figured out by association, i suppose it just never reached you,” jungwoo assures him, offering donghyuck a sympathetic smile. 

renjun, seemingly already having enough of this, says in a deadpan: “if you’re a supernatural, raise your hand.” renjun, sicheng, jaemin and his housemates, all raise their hands, appearing equally uninterested. 

“sicheng hyung, you too?” donghyuck asks in disbelief. 

sicheng smiles slightly and shrugs. “they’re part of the same coven,” doyoung supplies helpfully. 

“how do _you_ know?” 

doyoung lets out a snort. “sicheng’s the one who introduced me to renjun in the first place. vampires are a tight knit community, you know.” 

taeyong winces at the scream donghyuck lets out. 

b) 

“do you sometimes regret getting jaemin and hyuck together?” jeno asks renjun and yangyang, taking a sip of his soda. 

him, renjun, yangyang, donghyuck and jaemin have made some sort of a tradition where they go out to eat every month. except, now it’s somehow become jaemin and donghyuck just being disgustingly couple-y and the other three third, fourth _and_ fifth wheeling. jeno’s sick of it. 

“you do realise they’re sitting right beside us, right?” 

“trust me, they aren’t paying any attention,” yangyang replies. 

just like yangyang said, neither jaemin nor donghyuck seem to care, or even have any idea, that their three friends are talking shit about them. jeno has to fight the urge to roll his eyes and tell them to get a room. 

“if you make such good potions, then why does your coffee order taste like shit? it’s so fucking bitter.” jeno overhears donghyuck saying, nose scrunched up in disgust. 

“maybe cause you’re the sweetness i’ve been missing,” jaemin replies without missing a beat, a smug smile spreading on his face. donghyuck coos at him. jeno retches at them. 

“god, make it stop,” yangyang whines. “who thought it would be a good idea to get them together? jaemin’s insufferable by himself, but he’s even worse now.” 

the other two hum in agreement, renjun adding, “you don’t have any idea how lovesick hyuck gets when he doesn’t get to see jaemin for a couple of days. it’s awful.” 

perhaps renjun was a little too loud because donghyuck turns away from jaemin for a moment to raise a brow at him. “are you guys talking about us?” he asks, unimpressed. 

“can you blame us? we’re just trying to eat while y’all are being nasty in public,” jeno shoots back. 

donghyuck lets out a short bark of laughter at that and something tells jeno that he’s made a huge mistake by opening his mouth. “nasty? babe, did you hear that–” 

jaemin and donghyuck lock eyes for a silent conversation that jeno understands absolutely zero percent of. “nasty, huh? we’ll show you nasty,” donghyuck mutters a little _too_ smugly before turning back to jaemin who also has a smirk on his face. 

“wait, are they actually..” yangyang begins, before his eyes widen, “what the fuck?! we are in public please stop making out–” 

“oh my fucking god, jeno please make them stop,” renjun says, panicked. 

“okay! okay! you guys win,” jeno relents, sighing in relief as donghyuck finally pulls away from jaemin, flipping him off with a satisfied smile on his lips. jaemin goes back to eating his food like he didn’t just have his tongue down donghyuck’s throat a moment ago. 

“i am never eating out with the both of you ever again,” yangyang says, scandalized. donghyuck, being the absolute asshole he is, simply cackles at him. 

c)

“yangyang says dating you is endangering his life,” jaemin tells donghyuck, looking up from his laptop for a moment, to his boyfriend who’s working on some presentation he has due.

donghyuck is wearing the same sweater that jaemin had knitted for him, way before they even started dating, and it’s actually surprised him when donghyuck really meant it when he said he’d unironically wear the ugly sweater. 

whatever, it’s not like jaemin’s complaining. donghyuck looks unfairly cute in it, the sweater practically engulfing him. jaemin kind of wants to smother him with affection, but he knows that donghyuck would punch him if he tried to distract him from finishing his work. 

“stop staring, na. you might set my laptop on fire again,” donghyuck tells him, not even looking up. faintly, jaemin can see the corner of his lips tugging up. 

“shut up, that was _one_ time,” jaemin replies, embarrassed. “also, are you ignoring me? yangyang is slandering our relationship. this is serious.” 

“when is he _not_ slandering our relationship.” finally, donghyuck looks at jaemin, a glint of mischief in his eyes, “besides, he’s not wrong. i can’t even hit on you without causing a safety hazard. it’s unfortunate, really.” 

there’s a challenge in his eyes and jaemin knows that donghyuck is just teasing him and falling for it yet again would just be predictable, but jaemin’s not jaemin if he doesn’t do the most predictable shit. “oh yeah? i bet i won’t. come on, fluster me. nothing will happen,” jaemin promises. 

maybe jaemin is all bark and no bite because he knows his promise is empty even before donghyuck does anything. donghyuck puts his laptop aside and gets up from his spot on the couch, plopping onto jaemin’s lap without another word. 

“what are you doing?” jaemin asks, his voice coming out higher than he would have liked. 

“what does it look like i’m doing?” donghyuck smirks at him, voice teasing. “i’m flustering you, pretty boy.” before jaemin can even reply, donghyuck presses a chaste kiss to the corner of his lips, pulling away just as fast. 

“what was that for?” 

donghyuck smiles at him, soft and full of fondness, the one jaemin knows he saves only for the people he loves the most; the one that causes jaemin’s heart to feel all fluttery, kind of like a school girl getting kissed on the cheek for the first time. 

“you’re really cute, did you know that?” 

surprisingly, it’s jaemin who makes the first move of slotting their lips together. donghyuck makes a noise of surprise but melts into the kiss anyway. it’s innocent at first, a simple push and pull before donghyuck swipes his tongue against jaemin’s bottom lip, deepening the kiss into a mess of teeth and tongue. 

jaemin tangles his fingers in donghyuck’s hair as donghyuck pulls him closer, wrapping his arms around jaemin’s neck. when donghyuck finally pulls away, jaemin lets out a low whine, immediately chasing his lips. donghyuck only laughs at him, wiping the spit from his lips. his lips are flushed red, and it fills jaemin with pride knowing that he did that. 

“i think you won,” donghyuck tells him, voice slightly shaky. “congrats-” 

right that moment, the lights explode, effectively startling both donghyuck and jaemin and engulfing them both in darkness. jaemin lets out a dejected sigh, knowing that he’ll have to go and buy replacements now. but then donghyuck cracks up immediately, and jaemin being completely whipped for donghyuck, thinks maybe there could have been worser ways this could have gone. 

d)

it takes about two minutes for dejun to realise that something is amiss. 

the first obvious red flag is how smoke seems to be coming from one of the windows of the house, though not a lot, still enough to cause alarm. “kunhang,” dejun calls out to the other who is keying in the pin into the keypad, “is it just me or is smoke coming out of our house?"

kunhang spots the smoke too and his eyes widen. “fuck, is anyone inside?” 

“i think jaemin is supposed to be home,” dejun replies, already stepping inside, kunhang following behind. “can you get like water or something, i’ll go upstairs to check what’s happening.” 

without wasting another moment, dejun dashes up the stairs, the smell of smoke getting stronger as he approaches jaemin’s room. faintly, he can hear muffled voices behind the door. already panicking, dejun curses under his breath, wondering what trouble his housemate has gotten himself into. 

dejun swings open the door, ready to face the worst. yet, even that doesn’t mentally prepare him for the sight in front of him. “jaemin! are you okay..” his voice trails off as he watches donghyuck repeatedly smack something on the floor with a pillow, which dejun assumes is probably the source of the fire. another detail dejun notes is how they’re both shirtless. 

“do i _want_ to know?” dejun asks, looking between jaemin and donghyuck. 

at that moment, kunhang comes running into the room and splashes water at the first thing he sees which just so happens to be a clearly distraught jaemin. “what the fuck?” jaemin exclaims. 

“we thought there was a fire,” kunhang explains. 

“it was an accident,” jaemin blurts out, as donghyuck sighs, “jaemin set his shirt on fire.” 

_oh, that would explain why he’s shirtless_ , dejun thinks. “why are you shirtless, then?” dejun asks donghyuck, furrowing his brows. donghyuck’s cheeks redden at that and jaemin lets out an awkward cough. “my magic kinda, um, went haywire for a bit. so like, yeah, an accidental fire. it’s all settled though.” 

it doesn’t take dejun long to put two and two together, noticing the hickeys on donghyuck’s neck, and finds himself wanting nothing more than to leave this situation. “wait, does that mean you two were–” kunhang begins. 

dejun pulls kunhang out of the room before he even has the chance to finish. 

(when kun eventually sits the entire household, plus donghyuck, down to give a briefing about fire safety, dejun blames it entirely on kunhang.)

**Author's Note:**

> leave a kudos n comment if u enjoyed ! <3


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